Decriminalisation of suicide a must!

Suicide must be 'decriminalized' Posted by: "Sheetal - Karmayog" info@karmayog.org Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:20 am (PST) Suicide must be 'decriminalized' ....Shibu Thomas & Sumitra Deb Roy Decision To Slap Criminal Charges On Versova Woman Sparks Off Fresh Debate On Need For Change In Law Every day more than 273 people commit suicide in India, and around one lakh annually. And, if death doesn't get you, the law definitely will. The Mumbai police's decision to slap criminal charges on a woman from Versova who attempted suicide after seeing her friend commit it has once again sparked off a debate about a need to change the law. Legal experts agree that decriminalization of suicide is long overdue and the law commission as well as a recent Supreme Court (SC) judgment have recommended it. "A person who tries to commit suicide is not committing a crime but seeking help. Instead, the law today brands him as a criminal,'' said advocate Aniket Nikam, who practices in the Bombay high court. "The law should come to the aid of such persons by looking to rehabilitate them, not send them to prison.'' Under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, attempting suicide is a punishable offence. The provision says: Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with a fine, or with both. The Indian government had spoken about deleting the provision in the 1970s but little came out of it. The Bombay high court in 1987 had held that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution includes the right to live as well as the right to end one's life if one desires, and had struck down Section 309. The SC upheld the view in 1994. But in 1996 a five-judge constitutional bench of the apex court ruled otherwise and held that the fundamental right to life did not include the right to live. It held that Section 309 was constitutionally valid. That remains the law of the land today, though the law commission in a report in 2008 had recommended decriminalization of Section 309. "It is unreasonable to inflict punishment upon a person who, on account of family discord, destitution, loss of a dear relation or other cause of a like nature, overcomes the interest of self-preservation and decides to take his own life. In such a case, the unfortunate person deserves sympathy, counseling and appropriate treatment, and certainly not prison." Last year, the SC, while ruling in the Aruna Shanbaug euthanasia case, told Parliament to delete Section 309 as it has become "anachronistic though it has become constitutionally valid". A bench headed by Justice M Katju remarked, "A person attempts suicide in a depression, and hence he needs help, rather than punishment." The Union government has undertaken steps to delete Section 309 and has obtained the consent of 25 states. Mental health professionals have pushed for the decriminalization of suicide and having a more sympathetic approach towards victims. "The nitty-gritties of decriminalization can be worked out but the basic concept is wrong and needs to change,'' said Dr Sanjay Bagadia, vice-president of the Bombay Psychiatric Society. Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty called the act of booking the woman as "atrocious" and said, "It will cause more trauma to an already traumatized victim." Shetty said that at any given point of time, 500-600 patients, who are admitted to hospitals, are those who have tried to take their lives. "Why selectively victimize her when so many similar patients who have attempted selfharm are left without an FIR," he said. How to handle people with suicidal tendencies * Do not act shocked, stay calm, keep talking to individual * Get help immediately by calling a suicide prevention helpline or a medical professional * Listen carefully to every word the person says and comfort with words of encouragement * If the person is in a very high risk of committing suicide, do not leave him/her alone till there is professional help * Try to learn what is going on in the person's mind * Do not be judgmental or make inappropriate statements * Police dealing with victim should shed image of negotiator/arbitrator and be gentle and kind WARNING SIGNS * Saying things like 'life is not worth it' * Winding up behavior * Suddenly indifferent to events and people around * Sympathizing with other suicide victims * Stops taking medication How The World Sees It - INDIA Under Section 309 of the IPC, a person who attempts suicide, can be criminally prosecuted. If found guilty, the offence is punishable with a jail term of one year. One who abets suicide of another can be punished with a prison term of up to 10 years - UK Suicide was a crime till it was decriminalized in 1961 - US Attempting suicide is no crime; helping someone commit it is - SINGAPORE A person who attempts to commit suicide can be imprisoned for up to one year - AUSTRALIA While it is not a crime to commit suicide, in the state of Victoria, a person who survives a suicide pact can be charged with manslaughter - NORTH KOREA Relatives of a person who commits suicide can be 'collectively punished' HELPLINES: Aasra(24x7) 91-22-27546669/7 Times View Very few events in life can be as traumatic as an unsuccessful suicide attempt. To treat a person, who is trying to recover from such an attempt, as a criminal is inhuman. The Versova woman's case is the most recent example of total non-application of good sense and a blinkered application of the law. She has first had the misfortune of seeing her boyfriend die a violent death; she has been affected so much so that she tries to end her life -in a similarly violent fashion-within a couple of days. She lands in hospital. The doctors try to heal her physical wounds; the mental scars would, hopefully, heal but that would take some time. But, even as she battles all this, she finds herself a criminal in the eyes of law. Does she really need to be treated like this? Should she-and her immediately family-be put through even more trauma of going through a case at the police station and in court? Should she not be treated as a patient who needs help from experts? Do people who attempt suicide deserve to be traumatised even more by society and law? Our law-makers need to ask themselves all these questions as soon as possible to ensure the law takes a more rational and less Kafkaesque view of suicide. URL: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2012/01/19&PageLabel=7&EntityId=Ar00700&ViewMode=HTML Experts say it's an urgent public health issue....Sumitra Deb Roy The medical fraternity has reacted strongly after the police booked a woman from Versova for attempting suicide even as she is battling injuries at the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Andheri. The medical professionals were unanimous that suicide is not a law & order problem but an urgent public health issue. Mumbai, particularly, has seen an overwhelming increase in suicides in the past few years. Figures recently released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) showed that 1,192 Mumbaikars took their lives in 2010. The number was 13% more than that in 2009, and the reasons included family problems, illness, unemployment and exam-related failure. City hospitals, particularly civic ones, have jumped into designing programmes to educate community leaders, mohalla committees and institutions to read signs of disturbed minds. Sion Hospital has initiated an outreach programme in which its psychiatry department, in association with mental health professionals, started sensitizing mohalla committees, police officials, and school and college managements on signs of suicide and ways to help vulnerable ones. KEM too has designed a module for its students and has prepared suicide prevention programme CDs for schools. Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty said suicides are a public health issue and the city's stressful lives and shifting aspirations could be some reasons for it. "Suicides as a health issue can not be ignored anymore," he said. A specialist from the Bombay Psychiatrist Society added that with the incidence of suicides rising, it is important to understand the issue in Mumbai's context. "It could be a personal act but the behaviour is determined by individual and social factors," the doctor said. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that it is the thirteenth leading cause of death worldwide, and one of the leading causes of death in teenagers and young adults. Psychiatrist Sanjay Kumawat said more suicides in women, senior citizens and students is a worrying trend. "It needs sensitive handling by the police and society," he said. URL: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2012/01/19&PageLabel=7&EntityId=Ar00701&ViewMode=HTML