Suicide Rate High in Chennai: Police

MADURAI: As many as 2,449 students have ended their lives in the State in the last five years, the State Police department told the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday.

The total number of suicides reported in TN during this period (2009 to August 2014) is 83,103. Among this, Chennai tops the list with 13,506 cases, followed by Coimbatore (6,383) and Tirunelveli (city and rural limits) 4,946 deaths.

Earlier, on a petition from a Thanjavur-based school principal, on whom a case was registered following the suicidal death of a student, the High Court impleaded the DGP and sought statistics of student suicides across the State. In response, IGP (Administration) P Thamarai Kannan submitted an elaborate data of suicides year-wise and district-wise under all the 38 police units in the State.

The IGP stated that Chennai city recorded 363 student suicides, the highest in the State, followed by Tirunelveli district (246) and 36 in the city limits, said the IGP.

Madurai stands third, with 217 student suicides during the past five years. Coimbatore city had recorded 109 suicides, while Coimbatore rural recorded 44 deaths.

The IGP also submitted that Tiruvallur district did not witness any student suicides. He also submitted that 30 cases had been registered against teachers, principals and college professors for the deaths of the students across the State.

Earlier, John Kennedy, Principal of St Thomas Higher Secondary School in Thanjavur district approached the Court seeking to quash the case against him pending before the Tiruvaiyaru Judicial Magistrate (JM) court regarding the suicide of one of his students.

It was alleged by the student’s father that his son Deivaraj committed suicide on March 7, 2012 after being scolded by the principal for poor score in exam. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case against the principal under IPC Section 306 (abetment of suicide), following which a chargesheet was filed for the offence.