Of the 3,640 people who committed suicide in Mumbai between 2013 and 2015, over 91 per cent of them, or 3,321 persons never attended school or were dropouts from schools or colleges, an RTI query has revealed.
According to the data furnished by the Mumbai police, 332 of these people never attended school, 607 left school after primary education, 1,016 left school before passing class X or SSC, 838 completed only SSC and 528 were college drop-outs.
As many as 63 per cent of those who committed suicide in the megacity during these three years were male.
The most common way of ending the life was hanging (2,600), followed by setting oneself on fire (450) and by poison. As many as 2,837, or around 80 per cent, were in the age group of 15 to 45 years.
The top three reasons for suicide among the men were unemployment, drug abuse and failure in examination. Among the women, marriage-related issues, love affair and failure in examination were the top three reasons.
Commenting on the issue, Dr. Sagar Mundada, president of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors, said the Mental Health Care Bill, 2013, which decriminalises suicide attempt, will help people in many ways.
“It will allow anyone who has attempted suicide to be treated immediately without the medico-legal process. It will also remove the stigma attached to suicide,” he said.
Private hospitals often overcharge for treating such patients citing the legal process involved. Decriminalisation would make the treatment affordable. Also, suicide cases will be reported correctly. Under-reporting will be curtailed, resulting in collection of accurate data, Dr. Mundada said.
