By Pardeep Singh, IANS,
Gurgaon : When Dana Sangma, an MBA student and niece of Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, committed suicide in her hostel room April 24, she was following in the footsteps of dozens of others who took the extreme step in Haryana’s Gurgaon district which has recorded over 100 such incidents since January.
At least one suicide, on an average, is taking place every 36 hours in Gurgaon as victims hang themselves, consume poison or jump from a height, according to police figures which show that 104 people have ended their lives in the first four months of 2012.
Besides the alarming trend of suicides, there has been a huge jump in the number of suicide attempts as well.
Nearly 88 of the suicide victims since January were aged between 20 and 40 and a bulk of them were in their 20s. A total of 13 victims were aged 15-19 years, police data showed.
Hanging oneself, consuming poison and jumping from heights seemed to be the most preferred modes of committing suicide in Gurgaon, bordering the national capital, that is home to several high rise buildings with offices of multinational companies.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) P.K. Mehta said they were willing to do every possible thing to prevent suicides. “But in case of harassment or property disputes, police can take action only if the victim approached them.”
In the last four months, 51 people hanged themselves, 33 ended their lives by consuming poison and 17 jumped to death in Gurgaon, official figures showed.
These figures do not include cases in which people set themselves on fire, ended their lives by drowning, jumping in front of trains or resorted to some other way of committing suicide, an official said.
In January, six people, including a woman, hanged themselves, 12 people consumed poison while five died after jumping from high rises, say police.
In February, the number of suicides due to hanging was 14, poison consumption seven and jumping from high buildings was eight. In March, the figures were 15, six and six respectively.
In April, there were 13 suicides due to hanging, six because of poison consumption and six due to falls from high rises.
The reasons for the suicide spurt in Gurgaon may be varied, but experts suspect depression could be the biggest killer.
Doctor Bhramdeep Sindhu, senior consultant clinical psychologist at the civil hospital here, said everyone occasionally felt the blues but these feelings were fleeting and passed away in a couple of days.
“When a person has a depression disorder, it interferes with daily life, normal functioning and causes distress to both the person with the disorder and those who care for him or her,” he said.
“Depression is a common but serious illness and most who experience it need treatment to get better,” he said, adding that daily almost 30-35 such patients with similar problems were consulting him.
The chief medical officer of a government hospital here told IANS: “Increasing suicidal tendency is a social as well as medical problem. We are ready to provide psychologists at special camps if some NGO takes the initiative.”
(Pardeep Singh can be contacted at [email protected])