Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code: “Attempt to commit suicide —Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall he punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both.”
The Mental Health Care Act, of 2017 proposes to decriminalise attempted suicide. The Act is a progressive step for India because of its inclusion of key items: banning the use of shock therapy for children; introducing strict approval for brain surgery (a rare and controversial treatment of mental health disorders); giving people with mental illnesses the right to choose their method of treatment; and finally, recognizing a suicide attempt as a cry for help requiring support and rehabilitation as opposed to a crime deserving of punishment (Srivastava, 2016).
India, like Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Pakistan, is one of the few countries in the world where attempted suicide is a criminal offense. The Constitution of India guarantees all citizens the fundamental right to life – however at present this right does not include the right to end one’s life. The criminalization of attempted suicide is based on two arguments: the first stems from religion and is based on the idea that only God has the power to end life; and the second is based on the premise that having such a law in place will act as a deterrent against suicide, which is key to a functional society. Neither argument is fool proof. Religion sometimes allows suicide in the case of sin or in the form of societal customs such as “sati”. In addition, such laws have not always resulted in lower rates of suicide – for example, Canada saw no increase in its suicide rate after attempted suicide was decriminalised (Ranjan et al, 2014).
Since the 1970s, various factions of Indian policy makers have attempted reforming this law, recognizing its dehumanizing premise and effects. In fact, the law was passed during the British Raj, and still exists long after the UK itself has abolished it. The reforms introduced in the Mental Health Care Act, 2017, are a result of acknowledging that people who attempt suicide do so to end their pain, which is often caused by psychological distress – depression, abuse, financial crisis, trauma resulting from loss. The effect of criminalizing attempted suicide discourages people from seeking assistance and thus they do not receive the necessary emotional and medical help they need to cope. A study conducted by the World Health Organization reported that basic counselling, medical attention and consistent follow up provided by such facilities were key in seeing a decrease in repeated suicidal attempts (Rajagopalan, 2015). However, given the current legal framework in India, hospitals are reluctant to take on such cases, fearing legal procedures, and thus suicide cases are often filed under “accidents”. Such under-reporting further silences and stigmatizes suicide, which prevents policy makers and society from recognising the need for and providing accessible mental health facilities to deal with the distress that leads to suicide attempts.
It is about time that India woke up to viewing suicide attempts with humanity. It is hoped that changing the present legislation will lead to more data on suicide attempts, which will in turn generate a greater number of qualified professionals to offer the necessary resources. By removing the tag of criminality, the focus will be less on the shame, stigma, and isolation associated with attempted suicide, and more on providing people with access to effective support. This represents a progressive and positive shift towards the way we view and deal with mental illness and psychological distress in Indian society.
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