India suffering from suicidal epidemic, law regarding abetment of suicides

I even have a personal experience to share when a friend of mine committed suicide couple of years ago. Though the reason is not known, it is believed that his mother would often blame him for being not good enough in academics. Though he has found a seat in a hotel management college, he did not have the fees to pay. The boy hung himself from a fan in a fit of despair and disappointment of being compared unfairly to other boys.

In the media, of late we have seen incidents that reek of suicidal deaths or attempted suicides in the past few weeks. India contributes to 10 percent of suicide rates in the country. Over 100,000 people die by suicide in India every year.

According to a news report, highest numbers of suicides are in Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra. People who attempt suicides are students, housewives, jobless youth and pensioners according to the Crime Bureau data. Do you know that for every student who commits suicide, there are 13 people who attempt it?
Usually suicides happen due to these three reasons(not in an order):
• Relationship failures
• Financial downfall
• Academic disappointments
Each of the above encompasses unrealistic expectations. The blame lies on the “done to dogs” flawed educational system that pressurizes on academics being a benchmark to future success. Pressure by parents and teachers are hugely responsible for rising suicide incidents. As Aamir Khan said in Taare Zameen Par “the pressure of academics is so much...94 percent, 95 percent-anything less than this is equal to a “gaali”(abuse).


Families and friends should look for the following symptoms in a person to take note of him/her doing the unexpected:
• Total withdrawal from interaction
• A change or intervention in day to day activity pattern
• General feeling of paleness in the person. If he or she rushes to an isolated place to cry often or looks continually lost or depressed in thoughts, there is a hint of something going terribly wrong
• Incessant claims of having an urge to commit suicide

Also in India, each of us have to fight out own demons. Abroad, people who are stressed out or in despair readily go to a psychologist for counseling. For every small thing, like shopping stress, there is counseling. Here, the thought of going to a psychologist is looked down upon, you are branded as ‘mad’ if you tell someone that you want to seek the help of a psychologist. Schools, colleges and offices should be proactive in counseling their members. Most of the colleges in India have counseling centers just for name-sake. Also most people do not go for counseling for the fear of being looked down upon, or inflicting their own ego. Also teachers and invigilators should not be overtly strict with children who are caught copying. Why does our education system look at copying as an unpardonable sin and treat the child as an outcaste? Cant you imagine the shock that the child has to go through, the embarrassment, the fear of being taken to task by their parents, the fear of being not allowed to sit in exams, and the massive stress of the ‘make or break’ board examinations which hangs like the Damocles sword over the heads? Debt counseling centers should be set up in India in a large manner, so that they can adequately represent people who are caught in a debt trap, offer counseling to them.

About crimes of abetting suicide
Section 306 of IPC states that If any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to a fine.
Under section 107 of IPC, a person is guilty of abetment of suicide only if instigates someone to do the thing, engages with one or more persons to do the thing, intentionally aids its commitment or facilitates the act. The police cannot arrest the last person the suicide victim spent time with, on the grounds of suspicion. If that is the case, then every psychiatrist, whom the suicide victim talks to before killing himself, should be arrested. Even if there is an argument, it cannot be construed as an act to facilitate suicide. The act of the accused should be intentional before the law to arrest the accused.

Can the police arrest anyone on the grounds of suspicion?
The police can arrest only if the arrest is absolutely necessary to arrive at the truth. The Supreme Court had warned the police in the 1994 Joginder Kumar case that the police must not arrest anyone on the grounds of mere suspicion of participation in an offence. The Bombay Police Act Section 147 can prosecute the police for unnecessarily arresting someone. The police can instead call the suspect for questioning; gather evidence and when there is enough of it (evidence), arrest him.