Opining that a person surviving suicide should be entitled for treatment and not punishment, the ministry of health and family welfare has asked the ministry of home affairs to repeal Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which prescribes imprisonment for the one committing suicide.
In India, “attempt to suicide” is an offence punishable under Section 309 of the IPC. Section 309 reads thus: “Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both.”
In his recent letter to the home ministry, Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad recommended to repeal the “archaic Section 309 of the IPC”. “We firmly believe that a person who attempts suicide needs medical attention and therefore there should not be any reason for him to get punished,” said a senior official in the ministry.
Adding that only a handful of countries in the world like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and India persisted with this law. The ministry’s recommendation is backed by a report of the Law Commission which had also felt 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 to be visited with punishment”.
In their report too, the Law Commission, after taking views from the WHO, the International Association for Suicide Prevention, France, decriminalisation of attempted suicide by all countries in Europe and North America, the opinion of the Indian Psychiatric Society, and other representations had recommended the government to initiate steps for repeal of the “anachronistic law contained in Section 309, IPC, which would relieve the distressed of his suffering,” the report said.
“The health ministry endorses the opinion given by the Law Commission and the recent recommendation of the Supreme Court to Parliament to consider the feasibility of deleting Section 309,,” added the official.