Terminal Questions

THE DEATH SENTENCE IN INDIA IS CARRIED out by hanging. This is not the most humane way to end a life. In developed countries, they have used more progressive methods, like lethal injection which is physically painless. But hanging was once upon a time not that bad either, provided it was done by an expert. Because death, unlike what popular imagination portrays, is not by suffocation but by the breaking of the neck. It is the fall that makes the killing instantaneous, the reason why the correct placement of the rope becomes so important, and the reason why hangmen exist. On the other hand, when people choose to take their own lives by hanging, it can be excruciatingly painful. They don’t know how to tie the rope. They usually don’t even have one and use a material that is available at home. They don’t have a scaffold to hold the rope from which to hang. The ceiling fan or a tree becomes the alternative. Death can be by strangulation which lasts a long time. Suicides are also impulsive acts and should the person change his mind during the act, it only makes the tragedy worse. One would think that collective memory would soon lead people to appreciate why this is not the way they should be taking their own lives. But hanging, as it turns out, is by far the most popular method by which Indians take their own lives. We see this anecdotally all the time. When the movie star Sushant Singh Rajput took his own life two years back, it was by hanging. Or in 2018, in Burari, Delhi, 11 members of a family were all found hung to death, a ritual suicide. Pick a daily newspaper and if there is a suicide there, chances are it will be by hanging.

We also know about hanging’s prevalence much more clearly from the recent release of the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2021 report collated by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). It said of all suicides, as much as 57 per cent were by hanging. The total number of those who killed themselves during 2021, the period of the survey, was 1.64 lakh. That means just above 93,000 Indians hung themselves to death. The next biggest method was poisoning. The report stated: “The means adopted for committing suicide varied from the easily available and effective means such as consumption of poison, jumping, etc. to more painful means such as self-inflicted injuries, hanging, etc. Like the previous year, ‘Hanging’ (57.0%), consuming ‘Poison’ (25.1%), ‘Drowning’ (5.1%) and ‘Fire/Self-Immolation’ (2.6%) were the prominent means/mode of committing suicide.”

Within hanging, there are aspects that point to ease of availability being what people go for when they decide to die. The material that is most used for it is nylon ropes. A study of suicides that came to the Government Medical College at Yavatmal in Maharashtra between 2001 and December 2005 found that “nylon rope was the commonest type of ligature material used for hanging in 63% of the cases, followed by odhni (10.2%), jute rope (6.3%), and dupatta and sari (5.5% each). Other types of ligature material used for hanging were cotton rope, electric wire/cable, water pipe, shirt, lungi, bed sheet, and machine belt. Nylon rope as a ligature material for hanging was preferred by both sexes, but odhni and sari were more preferred by female victims.”

The method is not the only idiosyncrasy at play in suicides in India. When it comes to professions or occupations that one associates with suicides, it is the farmer that we instantly think of. Their killing themselves mainly is attributed to a debt trap, a consequence of farming being such an insecure way to earn a livelihood in India. Vagaries of the weather, lack of easy credit, the high price of seeds, pests, unpredictable demand for crops, etc., can all contribute to jumping to bankruptcy from a bumper crop within a year. This is also a subject that sees huge political and social anger, a reason why massive amounts of farm loans are written off to give relief to farmers. There is even an argument made that because the majority of Indians are farmers, it would be natural for a majority of suicides to be that of farmers just going by proportion, and that the real reason is not social conditions but mental ailments like depression. This whole debate however seems a little superfluous from the statistics at play. Because, as it turns out, vocation-wise, it is not farmers but daily labourers who commit the most suicides. They accounted for a whopping quarter, or 25 per cent, of all suicides. Those from the farm sector were 10 per cent. It is possible that the categories can overlap because labourers are also often farmers during the agriculture season, though the NCRB report, which relies on police cases, itself has nothing to say on such a blurring.

On one aspect, whether it be farmers, labourers, or even total numbers across categories, there is a commonality, and it is one that men’s rights activists have long been trying to highlight whenever the topic of suicide comes up—an overwhelming majority of those who do it are men. Out of the 1.64 lakh Indians who committed suicide last year, 1.18 lakh or 71 per cent were men. This stark difference is not just an Indian phenomenon but parallels the rest of the world. What makes it something of a mystery is also that depression, which is the main factor for suicide, is much more common in women. Among the reasons for this dichotomy is said to be alcoholism, which is much more in men. Men are also believed to be much less willing to seek help for mental issues. And they also find it hard to accept when they fail in their role as a provider of the family. A BBC article that looked at why men commit more suicides had this to say: “Other risk factors can be related to family or work. When there’s an economic downturn that results in increased unemployment, for example, there tends to be an associated increase in suicide— typically 18-24 months after the downturn. One 2015 study found that for every 1% increase in unemployment, there is a 0.79% increase in the suicide rate. Having to worry more about finances or trying to find a job can exacerbate mental health issues for anyone. But there are elements of social pressure and identity crisis, too.”

AMONG WOMEN, HOUSEWIVES made for the biggest category of those who committed suicide—from the total of about 45,000 females, they accounted for more than half at 23,000. Less women than men might do it in India but as compared to the rest of the world, we are at a worrying top in this category. An Indiaspend article of 2020 said: “Over one third (36.6%) of suicides by women in the world in 2016 were in India, up from 25.3% in 1990, according to a 2018 Lancet report. Married women account for the highest proportion of suicide deaths among women in India because of reasons such as early arranged marriages, young motherhood, low social status, domestic violence, and economic dependence, the report said.”

The family situation, in fact, is a major reason why suicides happen among men and women. As the NCRB report says: ‘‘‘Family Problems (other than marriage-related problems)’ (33.2%), ‘Marriage Related Problems’ (4.8%) and ‘Illness’ (18.6%) have together accounted for 56.6% of total suicides in the
country during the year 2021.”

Another curious correlation was between suicide and education. Graduates and above accounted for just 4.6 per cent of suicides as compared to 24 per cent for those who had studied up to matriculation level and 11 per cent for illiterates. This could again be just a reflection of the general population’s literacy itself. The previous Census, for instance, had found that graduates made up 4.5 per cent of the Indian population.

In 2019, 1.39 lakh Indians committed suicide. This number shot up in the next two years to 1.53 lakh, and then to 1.64 lakh. A big reason would have to be Covid that has led to an increase in mental health issues and the physical toll of the disease itself. But, even otherwise, suicides have been increasing in India over time. The World Health Organization terms it “an emerging and serious public health issue in India”, which can be prevented by “timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions.” But there can be no solution to the problem unless contributory factors are addressed, like most of the population having no access to mental healthcare, or the economic and social causes. That would mean to some extent changing the character of the Indian system itself. Until then, we will continue to lead the world in the number of people taking their own lives.

depressionhangingIndian societyNCRB reportsuicide