Counsellors, via video call, help avert suicide bid

A deaf and dumb newlymarried woman who was about to hang herself was saved in Rajasthan's Hanumangarh district in a coordinated action by local police and a counsellor couple who were in touch with her through video call from Indore. The depressed woman (23), online searched the contact number of counsellors Gyanendra Purohit and his wife Monica and told them three days ago that she wanted to end her life. On Thursday night, she again made a video call to Purohit, who also works as state coordinator for Muk Badhir police helpline at Indore, seeking help but this time she had made a noose of her dupatta to commit suicide.

Monica, director of Anand Service society working for deaf children in Indore, said, “This was a totally unexpected scene. My husband was in Mumbai, he called me up and I started counselling the woman through sign language. Simultaneously, we coordinated with the Hanumangarh police seeking their help." "The woman told us that her father had sexually abused her since childhood and now her husband is also brutal to her. Therefore, she wanted to take the extreme step,” she said.

The couple intimated the police who traced her house and rescued her, she said. Assistant Sub-Inspector Gayatri Devi, who went to rescue her said, “We entered the room where she was standing on her bed and was about to hang herself. She was on video call with the social workers and I told them that we are from police and will ensure her safety,” she said.

The woman had kept the mobile phone on a window and was talking to the social workers through sign language, the ASI said. The woman is now with an NGO in Hanumangarh and no FIR has been registered so far.