BY DAMINI VERMA
B.COM. L.L.B. 3RD YEAR
CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY
- ABSTRACT
According to a research ,93% of people who commit suicide or who try to suicide were found to be mentally ill at the time of attempt. But rest of the people try to do by pressure of workload or compelled themselves. 21 of the Constitution of India which deals with right to life and liberty.It states that
“no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”.
Author in this article wants to establish the ironical relationship between 21 of Indian Constitution as well as Abetment of suicide finally forming the significance of title that how people have misconstrued 115 of MCHA and 309 of IPC giving an overriding effect to it in their own terms without any legislative authenticity.
- INTRODUCTION
According to Phil Donahue , suicide is a permanent solution for thousands of people all around the world. People who commit suicide must be suffering from extreme pain regarding issues with their personal ,professional or social life . Suicide is solution to a temporary problem. About 800 K people die by suicide worldwide every year. Death by suicide is the most tragic and complex issue that causes pain to human’s own decision when he does not want to fight with outside world and end his life by committing suicide. Moreover,not only people end their own life but try to convince others to finish their precious life if they are not able to face their problems.
- BACKGROUND
BREAKING NEWS: Famous Actor Sushant Singh Rajpoot who was suffering from depression since 6 months committed suicide. Is it a suicide or a murder guised in the form of suicide? Why Sushant Singh fans want to boycott Karan Johar as well as Yashraj Singh Studio?
While approximately one million people die by suicide worldwide1, more than one lakh persons (1,18,112) in the country lost their lives by committing suicide during the year 2006. This indicates an increase of 3.7 per cent over the previous year’s figure (1,13,914). The number of suicides in the country during the decade (1996-2006) has recorded an increase of 33.9 per cent (from 88,241 in 1996 to 1,18,112 in 2006).2 1.1.2 The overall male: female ratio of suicide victims for the year 2006 was 64:38; however, the proportion of boys: girls suicide victims (up to 14 years of age) was 48:52, i.e., almost equal number of young girls have committed suicide as their male counterparts. Youths (15-29 years) and lower middle-aged people (30-44 years) were the prime groups taking recourse to the path of suicides. Around 35.7 per cent were youths in the age group of 15-29 years and 34.5 per cent were middle-aged persons in the age group of 30-44 years of the total suicide victims. Senior citizens have accounted for 7.7 per cent of the total victims. Social and economic causes have led most of the males to commit suicides, whereas emotional and personal causes have mainly driven females to end their lives.3 1.2 Suicide (felo de se) means deliberate termination of one’s own physical existence or self-murder, where a man of age of discretion and compos mentis voluntarily kills himself. It is an act of voluntarily or intentionally taking one’s own life. Suicide needs to be distinguished from euthanasia or mercy-killing. Suicide by its very nature is an act of self-killing or self-destruction, an act of terminating one’s own life sans the aid or assistance of any other human agency. Euthanasia, on the other hand, involves the intervention of other human agency to end the life. Euthanasia is nothing but homicide, and unless specifically excepted it is an offence. A priori, an attempt at mercy-killing is not an attempt to suicide.
- Sec 309 IPC v/s Sec 115 Mental Care Health Act-
According to 309 of Indian Penal Code,
“whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act in furtherance of 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”.
306 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with
“abetment of suicide which means that if any person commits suicide ,whoever abets the commission of such suicide ,shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine.”
As in the Gian Kaur
Vs
The State of Punjab [1]
,the Gian Kaur and her husband has been charged for abetting suicide of their daughter in law Kulwant Singh.
Some people oppose the decision that a person should be taken care of , treated and rehabilitated to reduce the risk of reoccurrence. Decriminalization might lead to openly seeking help ,better planning and resource allocation . Also for all those on Ventilator or who want to end their life must be given a fair chance as they are bed ridden and are burdened by their own body. Hence, they have the right to die instead of a painful life.
115 of MCHA Act clearly illustrates that:
“Notwithstanding anything contained in 309 of IPC, a person shall be presumed to have committed suicide under severe stress and depression unless the contrary is proved”.
Now, people have themselves concluded the fact that this provision has given an overriding effect to 309 of IPC despite of the fact that IPC being a superior legislation can decriminalize its own provision . Other legislation can at a later state can substantiate such decriminalisations but, only IPC is authorized to overrule its own provisions.
- WHY 309 SHOULD NOT BE COMPLETELY DECRIMINALIZED…….-
A Division Bench of the Supreme Court in P. Rathinam
held that the right to live can be said to bring in its trail the right not to live a forced life, and therefore, 309 violates 21.
This decision was, however, subsequently overruled in Gian Kaur
by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, holding that 21 cannot be construed to include within it the ‘right to die’ as a part of the fundamental right
guaranteed therein, and therefore, it cannot be said that 309 is
violative of 21.
Throughout history, suicide has been both condemned and commended by various societies. Since the Middle Ages, society has used first the canonic and later the criminal law to combat suicide. Following the French Revolution of 1789 criminal penalties for attempting to commit suicide were abolished in European countries, England being the last to follow suit in 1961.4 1.3.2 In England, the Suicide Act 1961 abrogated the law laying down that attempt to commit suicide is an offence. Although suicide is no longer an offence in itself, any person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or an attempt by another to commit suicide, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term which may extend to 14 years. As mentioned above, In India, both suicide and attempt to suicide are punishable offences.[4]
Position of Law is full of discrepancies when it comes to suicide. Not every person commits suicide under depression. Many teenagers do it as a part of their childish behaviour or to black mail their counterparts by threatening them or to gain attention. Attempt to suicide though majorly can be due to depression but, every stress does not lead to depression. Psychologically considering yourself to be depression after a breakup or scoring low marks is resultant of non-acceptance of facts.
Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which makes suicide attempt a crime punishable by a jail term of up to one year.Till it is repealed the shadow of criminalization will choke the neck of suicide survivors.Even after the bold attempt of Mental Health Care Act, 2017 to decriminalize suicide, sad commentary on nation is that decriminalisation will become absolute only if Section 309 goes in totality. What is needed is what Britain did in 1961, total decriminalisation of suicide attempt.
- CONCLUSION
According to my perspective ,every case is different in its own way .First of all not everyone knows about this amendment that a person can seek help from government if he or she is menatally ill but it should be proved by the apex court than only he got relaxation in punishment .A person should not be punished who try to commit suicide as he already suffering from certain mental issues. Instead of charging him punishment ,he or she should be provided with facilities to improve mental health so that he or she can recover effectively and try not to do this crime.As sec 309 has not been amended for the past 155 years but in 2017 section 115 of Mental Care Health Act came in to existence in which suicide attempters are presumed to have severe stress, not to be punished and the government should have duty to provide care, treatment and rehabilitation to reduce the risk of reccurence. Section 115 of MCHA,2017 has mentioned clearly that a person is not liable for the crime of attempting suicide until the court will prove that he is not psychiatrically ill. According to my perspective ,people have assumed that section 309 of IPC has been decriminalized with the coming of section 115 of Mental Care Health Act but it can’t be possible because sec 309 can only be decriminalized by itself only , no other amendment can decriminalise it . It is an illusion that a person can’t be punished under section 115 of MCHA . Therefore, one needs to understand that 309 IPC still finds its significance though same has been diluted with the advent of S 115 of MCHA……….One needs to go deep inside and think that Is he/she really depressed? Or his thoughts have made him
[1] 1996 AIR 946
[2] AIR 1994 SC 1844
[3] AIR 1996 SC 946
[4] 210th Law Commission Report
Advocate In Action 