UP police chief directs prompt action on ‘alerts’ to avert suicides

UP director general of police (DGP) Mukul Goel on Saturday directed police to take prompt action on social media posts about ‘negative thoughts’ that could lead to suicide by people, mainly students.

According to a press note, shared by the DGP’s Lucknow headquarters, the state police have averted two suicides in Prayagraj after detecting two such posts on social media.

The press release says the DGP directed all field officers to take instant action after getting alerts about ‘negative thoughts’, like committing suicide, by people.

The directives have been issued keeping in mind the ongoing board examinations and results of internal examinations of schools declared recently.

The UP police’s social media monitoring centre has geared up for issuing such alerts following the DGP’s directive.

The press note further stated that Facebook and Instagram are continuously monitoring such posts through its US-based social media monitoring cell and send alerts to the UP police’s social media monitoring centre through e-mails and calls.

In an incident reported on Saturday, a Class 11 student posted a tweet stating that everything was online due to Covid-19 related restrictions and suddenly the examination was conducted offline following which he could not perform well. The student expressed ‘negative feelings’ that he was left with no other option but to commit suicide.

Reacting on the student’s tweet, the state police immediately responded and counseled him through a reply on twitter by making him realise that his life was much precious than any school examination. Besides, superintendent of police (SP), trans-Yamuna met the student by tracing him through his mobile number and advised him to focus on studies as one school exam could not decide about his entire life.

Similarly, a suicide attempt by a man was averted in March after police got an alert about it at 12.30 am.

In this case, the man was troubled due to family issues and was having ‘negative thoughts’ with plan to end his life. The police immediately reached him by tracing his mobile location and counseled him against attempting suicide, the press note said.