National 5 (Spotlight Weekly)

Silent Killer

An alarmingly high number of people are taking their own lives in a country ravaged by conflict and economic slowdown

By KESHAB POUDEL

Suicide ranks second only to the Maoist insurgency in the sheer volume of tragic deaths in this impoverished and insurgency ravaged Himalayan Kingdom. The recently released government’s report shows that every day, on an average, six people commit suicide in different parts of the country.

In the last one decade, incidents of suicide have sky-rocketed. In 1993, just 290 cases of suicides were recorded. According to the Annual Report of Nepal’s Attorney General Office 2003, government’s prosecutor agency, 2329 people committed suicide in the year 2001/2002 (mid-June 2001 till mid June 2002).

District Police office : Growing incident

In the year 2000/01, 2344 people had committed suicide. The attorney general’s report of the year 1999/2000 stated that there were only 2100 incidents of suicide in that year. In the last three years of Maoist insurgency, over 7,500 deaths were reported whereas nearly 6,800 deaths were caused by suicide in the same period.

Thanks to the economic recession, transformation of family system in urban areas and uncertainty created by growing violence in rural hinterlands, large number of male population who has to live in the mental strain from depression, commit suicide.

Since committing suicide is not a crime in Nepal, attempting to commit suicide does not need to be reported to police. However, in case of death of a person, a police clearance is required to cremate the death body. Many cases of attempted suicide go unnoticed.

The attorney general’s report is based on the incidents registered at the police stations. Any case of suicide requires to be reported to the police and the postmortem has to be conducted by appropriate authority before its cremation is allowed.

“One needs written permission to dispose of such corpse,” said former attorney general Badri Bahadur Karki. “If suicide case is not reported, then the police might investigate it as a murder case. So out of fear of possible charge of murder, anyone who comes across the scene of suicide and/or has information of suicide, he or she has to report immediately to the police to prevent prosecution for himself on murder charge,” said Karki.

“Any one who cremates or hides or throws or help others to do so would be punished with six months of imprisonment. If police authority refuses to issue permission in appropriate case for granting disposal of the dead body, he/she shall also be punished,” said another criminal lawyer.

The rising incidents of suicide have concerned many. “The situation is alarming. Many people commit suicide because of economic hardships, humiliation, love tragedy, family violence, and caste discrimination. Social negligence and rape cases have also caused many to take their own lives,” said Subodh Pyakurel, president of Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC). The organization regularly monitors the suicide cases and publishes it annually along with other human rights related data.

Violent protest : Venting their frustration

According to a recent study made by Sanjibani Nepal, an NGO working to prevent suicides, urban people commit suicide more than the rural ones. In the last one decade, 1,254 persons committed suicide in the capital. The report also revealed that over 60 percent of people hang themselves while most of the remaining ones consume poison.

Among the number of persons committing suicide, more than 70 percent belong to the young population aged between 17-25 years - precisely the same age group of people who are mostly killed in the insurgency. Although suicide is emerging as a major killer, there are no institutions which have any programs to prevent and/or discourage it.

“Since we are over loaded by the Maoist insurgency problem and other crimes in the city, the growing number of suicide cases has added additional burden. Once we receive information, police needs to go to take care of the dead body till doctors hand over the autopsy report,” said a senior police officer. “Our data also shows that the number of suicide cases have gone higher in the last few year. There are various reasons of suicide including economic, family affairs and individual grounds.”

Two months ago, four committed suicide en masse in Birgunj city, 150 miles south of capital, following their inability to repay their debts. Permanand Barai Chaurasia, 38, his wife Urmila Devi, 35, his mother Sitadevi, 65, and his daughter Satya, 17, committed suicide at their residence. Sitadevi consumed poison while others hung themselves.

In Nepalgunj, 400 miles west of Kathmandu, two Maoist committed suicide by detonating the socket bombs they were carrying. Likewise, twenty-two year old boy committed suicide in Ilam, 500 miles east of capital after the Maoists demanded money from his mother. It seems that the images of torture creep into his mind. A policemen on duty committed suicide in the far west district of Doti a couple of weeks ago by pulling the trigger of the gun he was carrying. Few week ago, a 25 years boy committed suicide when he was dismissed from his factory.

Even minors are also not safe from this trauma. In a bizarre incident recently in capital, a seven-year-old boy hung himself to death after his mother refused to give him the whole packet of biscuit.

“Due to growing Maoist insurgency, more and more people are suffering from depression thanks to the uncertainty about life and other economic scenario,” said Dr. Niranjan Prasad Upadhayaya, a senior psychologist with the Public Service Commission . “Uncertainties in life always encourage people to commit suicide. Mostly the young population who do not see any possibility to fulfill their ambition in the situation of growing uncertainty find it easier to give up their life. As danger is looming everywhere including in the family of police, army, civil servants and commoner, every one has to live in extreme stress. A person living in strain can commit suicide at any time.”

Social anthropologists hold the view that many youth are committing suicide in urban areas due to breaking of traditional society. “When the society is transforming from traditional system based on solidarity to individualistic one, it is always painful to young and old to readjust. The upsurge of violence has added more trouble including losing of jobs and uncertainties in lives of persons and relatives. In this social situation, the rise of suicide case is inevitable,” said anthropologist Dr. Ramesh Raj Kunwar, who teaches cultural anthropology at Tribhuwan University, Nepal’s largest and oldest university. “Till a decade ago, a person was protected by his extended family but this social system has shifted now and society is more individualistic leading to more nuclear families.”

As Nepal has been passing through difficult and painful phases including violence, social changes and economic recession, one cannot see the situation improving anytime soon.