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India signals a softer stand on suicide
India signals a softer stand on suicide
STEPHANIE NOLEN
New Delhi— Globe and Mail Update
Posted on Friday, March 30, 2012 1:33PM EDT
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/worldview/india-signals-a-softer-stand-on-suicide/article2387298/
A woman carries food for her loved one during meeting time at the central jail in New Delhi October 3, 2006. Though suicide attempts are a punishable with prison time, recent court verdicts indicate India is moving toward decriminalization
REUTERS/ADNAN ABIDI
India took a step toward decriminalizing suicide this week, when a New Delhi court refused to jail an impoverished man who survived an attempted drug overdose.
Suicide attempts are punishable with a year’s imprisonment or a fine or both; India inherited the law from the British colonial rulers, although the statute on which it was based was repealed more than 40 years ago in the United Kingdom.
India’s law review commission recommended four years ago that the government change the law but this legislative reform, like many others, has stalled in a fractious parliament. Now, as with other social issues such as decriminalizing homosexuality, it seems the law will be rewritten not in parliament, but through court verdicts.
“Attempts to commit suicide are made due to extreme poverty and helplessness. There is no justification for imposing severe punishment on such convicts,” wrote Additional Sessions Judge Ramesh Kumar in his verdict. He convicted Satish Jain for the attempt, but sentenced him to prison for only the token time that the court remained in session. “The case like the present one in which the accused attempted to commit suicide due to poverty, helplessness, economic conditions and other pressing circumstances should be taken liberally and lesser sentences should be awarded to them.”
Suicide attempts are punishable with a year’s imprisonment or a fine or both; India inherited the law from the British colonial rulers, although the statute on which it was based was repealed more than 40 years ago in the United Kingdom.
India’s law review commission recommended four years ago that the government change the law but this legislative reform, like many others, has stalled in a fractious parliament. Now, as with other social issues such as decriminalizing homosexuality, it seems the law will be rewritten not in parliament, but through court verdicts.
“Attempts to commit suicide are made due to extreme poverty and helplessness. There is no justification for imposing severe punishment on such convicts,” wrote Additional Sessions Judge Ramesh Kumar in his verdict. He convicted Satish Jain for the attempt, but sentenced him to prison for only the token time that the court remained in session. “The case like the present one in which the accused attempted to commit suicide due to poverty, helplessness, economic conditions and other pressing circumstances should be taken liberally and lesser sentences should be awarded to them.”
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