Keerthana Thorat/TNN
Bangalore, May 6: Six persons on an average commit suicide in Bangalore every day. A peek into the city crime records bureau will give a shocker: 404 cases of suicide reported just in two months — January and February this year. Of the 404 cases, 262 are men and 142 women.
Over the past few months, suicide cases have been on the rise, the recent alarming trend being suicide pacts by families.
Since 2005, suicides have been showing an upward trend — it was 4 per day in 2005, 5/day in 2006 which rose to 7/day last year. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Bangalore occupied the numero uno slot with 1,528 cases in 2004, followed by Chennai (1,196 cases), Mumbai (1,106) and Delhi (967). In 2005, Bangalore came to the second position and Chennai topped the list.
In 2007, Bangalore recorded 2,430 cases, of whom 1,575 were men and 855 women.
Over the past few weeks, Bangalore saw several suicide cases — be it students hanging themselves because of faring badly in exams or suicide pacts by families. For instance, on December 26, 2007, Monisha (5) survived strangulation bid by mother Sudha, who hanged herself to death after she found her husband Nagesh had ended his life at their Vijayanagar residence. An unconscious Monisha spent two nights with her dead parents and then rescued and treated at MS Ramaiah Hospital. Now, she is with her relatives.
On March 24, software engineer Amit Budhiraj (30) murdered his wife and later committed suicide in Koramangala suspecting her infidelity. This not only shook the neighbourhood but also the IT fraternity.
Even before this incident could fade away, May 2 brought more grim news — three members of a family committed suicide at their residence in Rajagopalanagar. Lakshmamma (36) and her two children Nagaveni (21) and Nanjunda (16) hanged themselves. Financial problem was cited as the reason.
According to Dr Vani Prabhu, a psychiatrist at Victoria Hospital, the city has witnessed over 30% increase in the number of suicides over the last few years. There are various reasons for people resorting to that step, but stress is the robust risk factor. While some of the immediate motives are despair and stress, others are grief, mental illness, guilt or humiliation, lack of psychiatric or medical help.
"Urbanisation has created competition which in turn results in stress. This is having a cascading effect on the lives of people. Family disruptions, nuclear families, financial problems are some other reasons. Among teenagers, examinations, peer pressure, depression could be the factors. People who are unable to bear the frustration resort to killing themselves."
Those with personality disorders are vulnerable too as they suffer from low self-esteem and poor image. They commit suicide in order to seek attention from their families. Lately, women, especially those working, are more prone to committing suicides as they are subjected to stress both at work and at home.