24-year-old hangs self in city mental asylum
NEW DELHI: The city government-run Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) on Thursday witnessed the first case of suicide since its inception 21 years ago.
A 24-year-old patient undergoing treatment at IHBAS, the mental asylum in GTB Nagar in northeast Delhi, committed suicide by hanging himself from an exhaust fan in one of the bathrooms. No suicide note was recovered.
The incident took place at around 1pm and was reported to the police an hour later.
It has raised questions on the safety measures adopted by IHBAS for preventing patients from taking such extreme steps.
The deceased was identified as Aarif who was a resident of Jahangirpuri in north Delhi. The IHBAS authorities said Aarif was undergoing treatment since January 4 this month.
“He was admitted to the hospital on January 4 with psychosis (abnormal condition of mind) and drug abuse,” said a doctor at IHBAS.
Confirming the incident, Dr Nimesh Desai, director of IHBAS told HT, “Though we receive a lot of suicide-risk patients, this is the first suicide case at IHBAS in 21 years. Suicides at mental health hospitals are frequent but suicidal tendencies were not noted in this case and it was unpredictable. Apparently, he had some argument with his brother over the phone.”
A senior police officer said the PCR call was made by Dr Amit who informed the police that a patient at their mental hospital had committed suicide.
A police team immediately reached ward 16 of the hospital where Aarif was admitted on bed number 3.
“We were taken to the bathroom where the patient had committed suicide using a turban. He was found hanging from the exhaust fan. We rushed the patient to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital where doctors confirmed his death,” the officer added.
Though the exact reason behind Aarif’s extreme step could not be ascertained, police officers said he was under acute depression because of family problems and drug-overdose.
On Friday, his body was handed over to his family members after autopsy.