Suicide cases on rise in city: Police

Even as the judiciary mulls over striking out section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) — which makes an attempt to commit suicide punishable by imprisonment — Delhi’s annual suicide rate witnessed a leap of more than 4% in 2010.

Even as the judiciary mulls over striking out section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) — which makes an attempt to commit suicide punishable by imprisonment — Delhi’s annual suicide rate witnessed a leap of more than 4% in 2010.

Between January 1 and December 31, 2010, the Delhi Police registered and investigated more than 1,500 cases of suicide, close to a quarter of which that is 339, were attributed to ‘family problems’. However, in more than half the total number of these cases, the police failed to ascertain what pushed the victim to the edge.

“As per our records, while 1,477 cases of suicide were registered in 2009, till the end of December 31, 2010, the figure stood at as many as 1,543 cases; an increase of 4.46%. Despite investigation keeping strictly in line with the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the cause could not be ascertained,” admitted a senior police officer requesting anonymity.According to Delhi Police records, 961 of the 1,543 persons who chose to end their lives were male and 582 were women and in 792 of the cases, victims were aged between 15 and 29 years. Besides, 782 cases were recorded in the ‘causes not known’ and ‘other (unidentified) causes’ categories.