NEW DELHI: The Union health ministry is pushing to decriminalize the act of attempting suicide, which currently is an offence under Section 309 of the IPC with a punishment of up to one year in jail and a fine.

The new Mental Health Care Bill 2012, that is expected to be tabled in the winter session, aims to introduce a provision saying “no complaint, investigation or prosecution shall be entertained against the person who attempted to commit suicide, notwithstanding anything contained in the IPC”.

The Bill says “any person who has attempted to commit suicide shall be examined by a psychiatrist before any criminal investigation takes place. If the psychiatrist… certifies that the person has a mental illness and there are reasonable clinical grounds to believe the suicide attempt was a result of the illness, no complaint shall be entertained against the person.”

Last year, the Supreme Court had also observed that time had come to decriminalize attempt to suicide, dubbing the law “anachronistic” and called for its removal.

Around 13 crore Indians suffer from sort of mental illness — depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. A recent study published in the British medical journal The Lancet says suicide has become the second leading cause of death among the young in India. Bengal topped the infamous “highest number of suicides list” for 2011 with 16,492 deaths followed by TN with 15,963 suicidal deaths.

“Committing or attempting to commit suicide has become a serious problem in the country. We need to take care of these people medically and not punish them for trying to end their lives,” a health ministry official said.

Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had written to the home ministry almost a year ago to repeal Section 309. In his letter, Azad said the section should be repealed as it is archaic with only countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia still punishing people for attempt to suicide. Even the Law Commission had said that attempt to suicide “may be regarded more as a manifestation of a diseased condition of mind deserving treatment and care rather than an offence”.

“We have not yet heard back from the home ministry,” a health ministry official said.

Times View

To treat attempted suicide as a crime is both illogical and insensitive. It is illogical because that means suicide is a crime for which the law can’t punish you if you are unsuccessful but can if you are not. It is insensitive because it comes down hard on a person at precisely the moment when he or she is most in need of support and encouragement from all sources from which it could be available. The law should be amended to decriminalize attempted suicide. At the same time, we need many more counselling centres and trained counsellors to help those feeling suicidal.