As Haltu, Tangra, Behala suicides stun Kolkata, a psychologist says it’s not just about depression or anxiety
Telegraph | 7 March 2025
At least three reported incidents have sent shockwaves through Kolkata and swivelled the spotlight on suicide prevention.
In east-central Kolkata’s Tangra, two women and a teenage girl were found dead at their home on February 19. The accounts of the husbands of the women suggest a “suicide pact”. The husband of one of the women has reportedly admitted to police that he killed his teenage daughter and slashed the wrists and throat of his wife and sister-in-law.
At Sankuntala Park in Behala, a trader and his autistic daughter were found hanging from a ceiling fan on March 1. No suicide note has been found. The family is survived by the mother and a nine-year-old son. Reportedly, the trader was suffering from depression and spoke about the Tangra suicide case with his friends.
At Haltu in south Kolkata, an auto-rickshaw driver, his wife and their two-and-a-half-year-old son were found hanging on March 4. Two relatives have been arrested suspecting abetment to suicide. It is believed that the father killed his child before taking his own life.
In 2022 – the latest year for which data is available from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) – 1.71 lakh people died by suicide in India. The NCRB data show a rise in suicide rates from 9.9 per lakh population in 2017 to 12.4 per lakh population in 2022.
Is suicide the largest public health crisis in India?
“Whether we can rate it as the largest or not, I would not be able to say,” said city-based psychologist Dr Anuttama Banerjee. “Because, of course, there are lots of health challenges. But definitely, I think suicide has its own nature of danger with it.
“Because, in the other health issues, the person concerned usually wants to recover,” she added. “The person concerned wants to participate in the treatment. Here, the person is going against oneself,” she said.
“The reasons for suicide are multi-faceted, influenced by social, cultural, biological, psychological, and environmental factors present across the life-course,” according to the WHO’s factsheet on suicide, 2024.
“I would say there is a common belief that suicide is always because of depression,” Dr Banerjee said. “I would not quite go with that flow. Or, suicides happen because somebody is just stressed or anxious. So, one is dying by suicide only because of psychological issues — I am also not in agreement with that idea. It could be intersectional, and a lot of other reasons can be a part of it.”
Suicide, she stressed, could be the result of multiple factors.
“I have often come across cases where the attempt happened because at that moment, exactly at that moment, something frustrated the person so much, it almost came as an impulse. And one just gave in,” she said.
There is also the phenomenon of copycat suicide. It is believed that the Sakuntala Park incident is a ‘copycat suicide’ of the Tangra case.
Copycat suicide is also known as the Werther effect in psychology. The term was coined in 1974 by an academic, David Phillips, based on the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s novel from 1774, The Sorrows of Young Werther. After the novel was published, a number of young men emulated the protagonist Werther, who shot himself after being rejected in love.
“If one externalises anger, that person will become homicidal,” Anuttama explained, adding, “If one is internalising the anger, those destructive forces are now working against their own self. That might also lead to such a destructive decision.”
According to the International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS) data, the rate of suicide among Indian men is 2.6 times of that of women.
“Experiencing conflict, disaster, violence, abuse or loss and sense of isolation are strongly associated with suicidal behaviour. In the recent past, we have seen debt suicides. So the role of economy, the financial challenges, are definitely going to be linked with suicidal behaviour, and we really need to think of reformed policies to protect lives,” Anuttama said.
Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code classified suicide attempt as a criminal offence. While the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (MHCA) decriminalised attempted suicide, it took India a long time — from 1860 to 2023 — to overwrite the IPC and decriminalise suicide in the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita (BNS).
Section 224 of the BNS states: “Whoever attempts to commit suicide with the intent to compel or restrain any public servant from discharging his official duty shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both or with community service.”
The toll-free mental health rehabilitation helpline is 1800-3453-225.