CHENNAI: The Mental Health Care Bill 2016 is a step towards reducing suicide as it recognises that people who have attempted it should be offered care, and jailed, said experts speaking at the 31st Anniversary of Sneha, a voluntary organisation that has been into suicide prevention since 1986.
“Because of the medico-legal nature of suicide cases, immediate care is denied during the golden hour of survival leading to loss of lives,” said Lakshmi Vijayakumar, founder, Sneha, adding that criminalising suicide adds to the problem. “A young survivor committed suicide again when the police approached her under IPC 309, which criminalised attempted suicide.”
Keshav Desiraju, former health secretary, Government of India, said the bill did not completely decriminalise suicide and could not do so unless section 309 of the Indian Penal Code was scrapped. “The Bill recognises that an individual who has attempted suicide is someone who is under immense stress and requires special care, and shifts the responsibility on the government to provide such care,” he said.
The former Supreme Court judge AR Lakshmanan elaborated on his recommendation in the Law Commission of India Report 210 to decriminalise attempted suicide and added that only a few countries in the world still treated it as a crime. The Bill also recognises the rights of people with mental health disorders giving them the right to deny a particular form of treatment such as the electro-convulsive therapy. Desiraju said this move had been criticised by the Indian Psychiatric Society, as it transferred the power of decision making from the doctors to the patients or their caregivers, making the treatment difficult.
The Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi said help and trained experts should be available in schools, colleges and industries. “The government will also have to take help from such organisations and get actively involved in promoting awareness on mental health related issues,” she said.