Abstract:
Life is a precious gift, though not everyone receives it well. Few people take this extreme step of suicide commitment wherein a person takes away his own life. But not everyone is successful in such attempts, suicide itself is not punished but the attempt, abatement and assisting suicide is punished in many parts of the world. The reason for attempting suicide may vary from person to person and from time to time, may it be social circumstances such as attempting suicide for the protection of society or committing suicide due to the evils of society, political reasons, financial burden, prolonged diseases, loneliness, for being a victim of any kind of abuse, disinterest in the life and such. Whatever may be the reason, a man becomes his own mind’s slave and under his own ill thoughts commits self-harm which is intended to result in death of oneself. Having a good state of mental health aids a man in realizing his full potential and prevents suicide to a much larger extent and internationally the efforts are being put to help manage stress or a bad mental health condition, mental health is as vital as physical health, both of them together are responsible for total well-being. Presumably such steps are taken either to escape from any liability or under severe stress. The later needs protection rather than punishment. India in I.P.C. criminalized the attempt to suicide later which was intervened by Mental Health Care Act,2017 and it decriminalized the same under an assumption that a person who takes such extreme step to end his life itself is under some severe stress. This gave rise to the existence of contradictory provisions. Later in 2023 came B.N.S. which replaced the earlier I.P.C., wherein the earlier provision relating to suicide was deleted, but not completely. Indian government has introduced many initiatives, guidelines, strategies and helplines to eradicate high rate of suicide deaths. In this article we will further look into the origin of suicide as a crime and take a look into provisions regarding suicide given under I.P.C., B.N.S. and Mental Health-Care Act alongside their loopholes and suggestions to eradicate such mishaps.
Keywords:
Suicide, Attempted suicide, Mental Healthcare, Decriminalization, Section 309 I.P.C., Section 115 M.H.C.A., Section 226 B.N.S.
Introduction:
Suicide is seen as a grave sin. It is one of the social evils the world is still battling. Suicide is one such evil which is present in one’s own mind due to numerous reasons. It affects a person to such an extreme level that such a person prefers death of oneself over life. But needless to say, not all suicide commitments end up successful, few people who attempt suicide are unsuccessful in it and they were earlier punished by society and then were punished by law. A person who under trauma had attempted to put an end to his own life was punished by law if unsuccessful in it. These laws made way for public outrage and with lot of deliberations and discussions, attempt to suicide was decriminalized in various countries including India. The laws showed the possibility of how a person may be suffering from severe stress or any mental health problem which led him to do such harm to himself. There was serious support to not let the person suffering from such stress and trauma get punished and stay surrounded by criminals in a prison. If a person has attempted suicide because he acted under severe stress, then the government is under the duty to provide them care, treatment and other necessities in order to free him from reattempting suicide. This was done because punishing attempted suicide neither prevents it from happening nor does it solve the problem but further aggravates it. Attempted suicide is not decriminalized and the provision making it criminal is deleted in new enactment, but suicide is nor decriminalized entirely. Abatement to suicide and attempting suicide to compel against actions of a person under lawful duty is punished by law.
Research methodology:
This paper is descriptive in nature. The research is based upon both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources such as statutes are referred i.e. Mental Health-Care Act 2017, Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Indian Penal Code 1860 and few cases are being discussed. Secondary sources such as journals, articles, online websites are used to understand studies regarding growing suicidal death rates and to know initiatives taken by the government of India and guidelines suggested internationally to combat suicidal deaths across the country. This research paper gives comprehensive look at all the parameters the country is focusing on to establish mental well being in the society in combating social evils such as suicide.
Review of the literature:
to understand the set of mental healthcare laws in India which helped in decriminalization of act of suicide the researcher referred to various texts, articles and research papers in order to understand the mindset of society when suicide was considered as crime for the first time and how philosophers started taking interest in studying suicidal deaths. The writings of Amir Singh gave the idea of different types of suicide and how the sociologists of past viewed suicide and could ascertain various types and motives of commissions of suicide. Helen Y. Chang, A Brief History of Anglo-Western Suicide: From Legal Wrong to Civil Right, gave researcher a brief idea as to how suicide was criminalized in the first place. Suicide was religiously condemned and later on it affected the laws of the land. We also understand the part of Christianity in criminalizing suicide. Psychiatric diagnoses in 3275 suicides: a meta-analysis by Arsenault-Lapierre G, Kim C, Turecki G., give us test results in real life wherein the connection between mental well-being and suicide commitment is established to large extent. The researcher refers to various provisions of law such as Section 309 I.P.C., Section 115 M.H.C.A., Section 226 B.N.S. giving us details of how suicide went from being a crime to being not being one. But the study of mental health-care laws with respect to attempt to suicide is not incomplete if not discussed about the initiative taken by government and guidelines given internationally to protect mental well-being in people with the intention to combat increasing suicidal death rates. Researcher has referred to LIVE LIFE Initiative for Suicide Prevention by World Health Organization, UMMEED-Prevention of Suicide-Guidelines for Schools, Review of National Suicide Prevention Strategy and Other Suicide Prevention Initiatives in India by Akshithanand KJ, Anshita Mishra, Sahadev Santra and Bratati Banerjee, all of which give information regarding the strategies the governments deems fit for mental well-being and reducing the risk of suicides.
Body:
Meaning of suicide:
Suicide is originated from Latin words Sui and Caedere which together means to kill oneself. It is a voluntary and intentional act of causing self-harm resulting in death of oneself. A suicide attempt is failed act of causing one’s own death, it may or may not cause any bodily injury. Emile Durkheim identifies four different types of suicide such as egoistic, altruistic, anomic and lastly fatalistic suicide. Suicide is collectively considered in legal parameters, there is no such distinction made by law.
Origin of Suicide as a crime:
Suicide was never seen as a crime in general until the ideology of Christianity became popular which condemned suicide practice. It wasn’t considered a crime but were highly opposed by philosophers and society in general which were reflected in their cultural practices such as denying them the decent or honorable burial or orders of forfeiture of their goods and land by king. It was considered as opposed to natural law or to rule of life. But suicide was widely accepted in imperial period. Buddhists were seen accepting suicide practices unlike Muslims who unconditionally condemns suicide. The church’s strong condemnation of suicide gradually became the law of the states and was seen in common law of England. Soon in nineteenth century attempted suicide emerged as a misdemeanor. Assisted suicide still remains as a crime. But in the modern period the society looked at the insane state of person committing suicide and condemned criminalizing and punishing a person who is already in distress and has given up on life.
Under Indian laws, earlier effective Indian Penal Code of 1860, provides any person who attempts suicide will be punished with imprisonment for a period extending up to one year or will be put fine on or will be punished with both imprisonment and fine under section 309. The irony here is anyone who attempts suicide and is successful was free without any confiscation of any kind after his death. But a person whose attempt to suicide isn’t successful, was being punished by law without taking into consideration of the things that led him to take such a step so as to put an end to one’s own life. Instead of being inquired about his mental state or his perspective, he was a guest to prison. Due to public outrage on such provision of law and numerous suggestions from 42nd law commission report and later on in 210th law commission report on Humanization and decriminalization of attempt to suicide to delete such a provision, we have seen the mental healthcare act, 2017 bringing in some changes to the Indian law system.
Suicide as a Mental health issue:
Suicide risk is multifactorial and one of them is mental health issue, and this being the reason suicide is being dealt under mental healthcare laws in some countries. 3275 suicides were studied which provided that 87.3% had been diagnosed with a mental disorder prior to their death. Though it is found that most people undergoing mental illness opt and commit suicide, it is important to know not all mental illness patients end up suiciding. Mental health issues only trigger the suicidal thoughts and are not the sole reason for such an act of suicide.
After I.P.C., it was Mental Health-care Act,2017 which dealt with the subject of suicide. This act made attempt to suicide a non-criminal one. This act gave a different perspective on the person attempting suicide as suffering from severe stress unless otherwise proved and affirmed that he shall not be subjected to any investigation or prosecution under section 115 of the said Act. Section 115(2) of Mental Health-Care Act, 2017 provides that the appropriate government is under a duty to provide care, treatment and rehabilitation to a person who has attempted suicide under severe stress, so that the chances of re-attempting suicide by such person reduces. This treatment may be provided by a registered medical practitioner subject to the informed consent by the nominated representative. Such medical practitioners shall not use electro-convulsive therapy as a form of treatment.
Decriminalization of attempted suicide:
The decriminalization took place with the help of various judgements. Firstly, the dissatisfaction was shown by the courts for the application of provisions making attempted suicide a crime as in State v. Sanjay Kumar Bhatia, Justice Rajinder Sachar remarked continuance of section 309 Indian Penal Code is an anachronism unworthy of a humane society like ours. Later in 1994 in P. Rathinam v. Union of India, the Supreme Court saw that the way Article 19 gives right to speak and includes in itself right not to speak, similarly Article 21 gives right to life and it will include in itself right not to live. Hence Section 309 of I.P.C. was held unconstitutional. But soon in 1996, this judgement was overruled in Gian Kaur v. State of Punjab, wherein it was held that the right to live does not in itself contain the right to die. Hence Section 309 was again held constitutional. In 2017 came the Mental Health-Care Act, under section 115, which decriminalized attempted suicide and presumed such person to be under severe stress. But there arose a problem of application of these provisions as both of these were conflicting in nature. In Manoj Kumar S/O Yadavrao vs The State Of Karnataka it was seen that if the provisions of section 115 of M.H.C.A. and Section 309 of I.P.C. are read in whole, it suggests that before registering case, under section 309 of I.P.C., the person was not under any kind of stress disentitling him from invoking section 115 of M.H.C.A. But there were no proper directions given in any judgement or enactment as to the application of these conflicting provisions. In 2023, Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita was introduced replacing Indian Penal Code, this new act completely removed any provision as section 309 in I.P.C. It decriminalized the attempt to suicide but nor entirely as under section 226 of B.N.S., it is given that attempts to commit suicide with the intent to compel or restrain any public servant from performing his official duties remains a crime and such person shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend up to 1 year or with fine or with both or with community service.
Initiatives taken for prevention of suicide:
World Health Organisation in its “LIVE LIFE” initiative has provided some guidelines which will help governments in preventing sins such as suicide. The guidelines provided are as simple as limiting the access to means of suicide, holds media responsible for the reporting of any suicide related cases with due care and caution, helping young people by providing them with socio-emotional life skills and to provide support via early identification to everyone affected by suicide and self-harm. The implementations of these guidelines are done by cross-cutting pillars such as multisectoral collaboration, financing, surveillance, monitoring, evaluation, capacity building, raising awareness on the subject and situation analysis. These preventive measures will cater in awareness of the masses in a right direction by making everyone know the ill impact of suicide commission of the society and also how the society will give a helping hand to those who in need. The Department of School Education & Literacy Ministry of Education Government of India came up with guidelines for schools for prevention of suicide by catering in wellness of the mental well being of students in the name “UMMEED”. This suggests preventive measures such as making mental health services much more accessible, early identification of any warning signs to provide timely support to students, setting up of SWT (school wellness team) formed by school Principal and review its functionality on yearly basis, promoting positive school environment by raising awareness around mental health, building capacity for different stakeholders which includes teachers, staff, students and their families, responding immediately and supporting students at risk, maintaining records of students and of any follow up measure taken, and appraisal of actions taken by school. This step was indeed essential as Union Minister of State for Education, Sukanta Majumdar said 1.2% of suicides were related to examination failures. So, it is indeed crucial to address the younger population with taking care of their mental health and to have willingness to seek help. Taking the inspiration from WHO’s South East-Asia Region Strategy for suicide prevention, the Ministry of health and family welfare of government of India has come up with “National Suicide Prevention Strategy” in 2022 which aims to bring down the suicide mortality by 10% by 2030 as compared to suicide rates in 2020, which can be achieved by enhancing the capacity of health services available and it appreciates partnerships, collaborations of institutions to reduce the access to means of suicide , has a multi-sectorial approach to combat suicide death rates. Alongside all these initiatives, there are various toll-free helplines which work on 24×7 basis to provide counselling, attention, relief and support to people with issues such as anxiety, stress, depression, suicidal thoughts or any other mental health problems. These work for the early detection of any signs of any serious mental issues, rehabilitation facilities, if necessary, promotes positivity, mental well-being, mental health disasters management, obsessive compulsive disorder(OCD), substance-abuse and such or for providing comfort during challenging times such as COVID-19. These helplines were accessible in different languages as per the requirement and comfort of the customers. Few of such helplines are “KIRAN” (1800-500-0019) by Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, “MANO DARPAN” ( 8448440632) by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States – “TELE MANAS” (14416) or (1-800-91-4416) by Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, adding to these there are many state-initiated as well as non-profit organizations-initiated helplines made available in India.
Suggestions and Conclusion:
Suicide is an act which does not impact just on the person committing it, but also family, friends and whole community at large. It can occur in any age group and in any place of the world. Suicide has taken one of the top positions for the reason of deaths in general. Hence its prevention is a necessity. Such prevention can be brought by medico-legal intervention, by providing help via medical practitioners for analysing and detecting early signs of suicide, by prohibiting sale of few drugs injurious to health without prescription and not selling them in enormous quantities and such. The first thing to focus on is to remove the stigma related to mental health and mental illness, it should be talked about just like physical health problems and people should be willing to seek help. The Mental Health-Care Act provides much needed help to the person committing suicide under severe stress by providing them the care, protection and rehabilitation if necessary. This duty is put on the government and registered medical practitioners for proper regulation. But the provision comes with use of words “severe stress” in the Mental Health-Care Act which is very vague in nature, it has not been defined anywhere in the act and its scope has not been put out. It is not provided as to whether momentary stress is enough to attract section 115 of MHCA or one has to be under prolonged stress. This created a lot of loopholes and fabricated stories. But the initiatives taken by the government in the path of improving mental well-being of people and especially the younger population is worth appreciating but their manifestation is yet to be seen. The helplines are useful and clearly one of the best steps taken to analyse the warning signs exhibited by the people with suicidal thoughts.
Meghana A. Patil,
Karnataka State Law University’s Law School.