THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The suicide rate in the city is ringing alarm bells with the number of such incidents going on an upward spiral. During the last one month around 10 lives were lost owing to homicide in the state, of which two major cases were reported from the capital, both of which involved mass suicide attempts by two different families.
The first incident was reported from Kizhakkemukkola near Mannanthala on May 10, in which five members of a family were found dead. They had committed suicide reportedly following threats from the ‘Blade Mafia’. This incident sparked off the widely-publicised ‘Operation Kubera’.
The second incident took place on Monday near Nalanchira. In this tragedy, five members of a family attempted suicide, leading to the death of two children. The reason behind the suicide was reportedly a family issue.
“The over-consumption of social media is the main reason for this growing rate of suicides,” said Mohanraj, principal counsellor (HG), Thiruvananthapuram Family Court.“Deterioration of family values and engaging in relationships outside marriage are rampant nowadays. These relations commonly start with social media chats and gradually move to phone chats. This leads to problems within the family itself,” he said. He added that the situation is true not only in the case of youths, but also in other age groups.
The statistics of 2012 with the Kerala State Mental Health Authority say the suicide rate of the state was 25.4 per lakh. The total number of suicides reported that year was 8,490. Kollam topped the list with a rate of 41.3 per lakh, while Thiruvananthapuram stood a close second with 41.1 per lakh.
According to the latest statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Kerala is fourth among the states which witnessed maximum number of homicides, the suicide rate being 24.3 per lakh. Sikkim was on the top with 29.1 and Tamil Nadu, in the second position, had a suicide rate of 24.9.