Cyber cops foil youth's suicide bid

Mumbai's Cyber Police has thwarted 9 such attempts in the last 6 months

Mumbai's Cyber Police thwarted two suicide bids this week. They had uploaded posts on social media stating their mental distress and suicidal tendencies. While one youth was rescued on February 16, the other attempt was thwarted on Sunday. A total of nine suicide attempts were thwarted by the Mumbai Cyber Police in the last six months based on social media posts.

On the night intervening February 15 and 16, a youth approached Shivaji Park Police and told them about a Facebook alert of a man contemplating suicide. Police then alerted their counterparts at Mumbai Cyber, Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), which immediately swung in action and traced the troubled youth in Borivali using the Internet Protocol (IP) address. Police said that the youth, a Commerce graduate, had recently lost his father, while his mother died a few years ago and was being mentally tortured by his step mother. Fed up with the constant pressure and humiliation, the youth had decided to end his life.

Police, however, saved him before he could take any extreme step and counselled him to bring him into a safe environment. He is now undergoing counseling at a civic run hospital to ensure he never goes off the radar.