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Indian grants right to suicide

Attempted suicide will no linger be a crime in India following a landmark ruling by the Indian Supreme Court. The court repealed section 309 of the Indian penal code, under which people attempting suicide could face prosecution and prison terms of up to one year. psychiatrists and mental health workers across India have welcomed the judgment.

The court described the annulled law as a "cruel and irrational" provision that could result in the punishment of people who had already suffered mental agony and would be embarrassed at their failure to commit suicide. The court said that suicide was a psychiatric problem and not a manifestation of criminal instinct. People who had attempted suicide required the "soft words and wise counselling" of a psychiatrist, not prosecution and jail, the court observed.

"This is a positive and timely decision," said Dr Shridhar Sharma, director of the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences in New Delhi. Suicide rates have risen from 5.6 per 100 000 in 1976 to 8.9 per 100 000 in 1992. Suicide is now regarded as a growing public health problem. According to India's National Crime Records Bureau, 80 148 people committed suicide during 1992. The commonest methods used were drowning, hanging, poisoning, and self immolation.

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