UTTAMA RAY

Five years ago, I woke up in a government hospital in Kolkata with a dull pain in my stomach. I realised it wasn’t a physical ailment that was causing this, but a kind of hollow emptiness. I had failed my fourth attempt at taking my life. Since I was discovered by the police, a case was filed.

Luckily, it wasn’t pursued and my frail parents were spared further harrowing times, and unpleasant legalities. Instead, I was asked to undergo counselling. The advice that I was given was both, a mundane and puerile.

I was told to adopt a baby, as that would solve my clinical condition. Hearing this, barely a week after I had survived an attempt, made me feel worse.

Till recently, suicide attempts were considered a crime as per section 309 of the Indian Penal Code. In 2011, the Supreme Court recommended that Parliament should consider deleting this section.

Though it still remains, the new Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, which was notified in May, has decriminalised suicide attempts.

The new Act is a step in the right direction, as it normalises suicide survivors’ condition by not putting them in the way of the police and such traumatic situations.

Being a survivor, I am particularly happy about this, as I do not think of suicide as a crime. This notion, in fact, comes from a religious-moralistic view