E-Paper
NCRB report 2020: Mental illness drove 144 people to commit suicide in Ludhiana
Mental illnesses were the main reason behind the suicide of at least 144 people in Ludhiana in 2020, which is 40
Mental illnesses were the main reason behind the suicide of at least 144 people in Ludhiana in 2020, which is 40.56% of total figure, states the NCRB data. As many as 355 people, including 91 women, ended their lives in 2020. The city witnessed an increase of 39.8% in suicides as compared to 2019.
Seven men had committed suicide due to unemployment and eight took the extreme step due to professional or career problems. One rape victim also ended her life in 2020.
According to Dr Rajiv Sharma, consultant psychologist, many people lost their jobs during the Covid outbreak and subsequent lockdowns, and faced losses in business, which led them to take extreme step.
He added that lockdown was difficult for people belonging to different walks of life. “It affected people psychologically, emotionally, physically and financially. Income of households was adversely affected due to lockdown and with many people losing jobs, depression was prevalent among people,” he added.
In 2019, the number of suicides was 254, while in 2018, a total of 194 people had died by suicide. In 2020, the reason behind most of the suicide cases was illness – mental and physical. A total of 159 people, including 56 women, ended their lives due to this. Reason behind 31 suicide cases was marriage-related issue.
In all 355 suicides 264 were men and 91 were women.
Five people had taken the extreme step due to bankruptcy or debts. Thirty-one people, including 13 women, had killed themselves over marriage-related issues, out of whom one woman had chosen death due to dowry harassment. Five of them, including three women, had ended their lives due to extramarital affairs.
Failure in examination had led to suicides of three persons, including one girl.
Impotency/infertility caused two suicides, out of which one victim was a woman. Two men and one woman had committed suicide due to family issues.
Three persons, including two women, had committed suicide after death of their dear ones. Ten men had ended their lives due to drug abuse and alcohol addiction.
Similarly, love affairs caused eight suicides, including those of one woman and seven men. Poverty drove 10 men and three women to end their lives, while 16 people, including two women, committed suicide over property disputes. One woman had committed suicide due to physical abuse, the data revealed.
Case that shocked the city
On November 24, 2020, Rajiv Sunda, 60, a builder and realtor who lived in Ludhiana’s Mayur Vihar, had hacked four members of his family – including his wife Sunita Sunda, 58, son Ashish Sunda, 35, daughter-in-law Garima Sunda, 32, and grandson Suchet, 12, to death with an axe and knife before fleeing in his Maruti Suzuki Swift car only to set it ablaze and go missing.
The car was found burnt on Humbran Road, 4km from his house. A suicide note was recovered from the house in which Rajiv Sunda had claimed that he had taken the extreme step as his daughter-in-law used to threaten to implicate him in a fake dowry case. He had also mentioned that family members of his daughter-in-law had not returned his money which they had borrowed and were now trying to extort more money by threatening him. On the same day, Rajiv Sunda had ended his life by jumping before moving train in Jagraon.
