The Legal Aspects of Suicide in India- (Blog)

Suicide is an act where a person intentionally causes his/her death due to mental disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, autism, personality disorders, anxiety, and such similar issues. A suicide attempt is a fatal and self-injurious behaviour to die.

The constitutional validity of the Right to Die under Article 21 was questioned in the courts numerous times. Article 21 of the Indian constitution affirms, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by the law”. While the constitution shelters the right to life and liberty, it does not comprise of the ‘right to die’. Attempts of a person at taking one's own life are not considered to fall under the ambit of the right to life.

Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) states that a person who attempts suicide or initiates any act towards the commission of such an offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or both.

An attempt under section 309 of IPC infers a voluntary act of suicide. The main element of Section 309 of IPC is that it should be deliberate and intentional attempt of self-destruction.

Section 309 has been in controversy in many cases and numerous questions were asked on the same. The act of attempted suicide is concluded based on intention, which is further assumed from circumstances, but the intention may be uncertain or vague in many instances.

The two significant cases where the subject was under scrutiny were of P. Rathinam v. Union of India and Smt. Gian Kaur v. State of Punjab. In the first case, the Division Bench of two judges of the SC declared section 309 as ultra vires of the fundamental rights protected in Article 21. In the second case, a Division Bench of three judges of the Supreme Court had to decide validity of P. Rathinam. The previous decision of the Supreme Court in P. Rathinam was annulled and the court held that section 309 was not violative of Article 21 or Article 14 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court held that Right to life is not inclusive of Right to die as life and death are contradictory to each other.

The High Court also remarked that there is nothing unusual about the desire to die and therefore the right to die. The method adopted for putting an end to one’s life may vary from starvation to strangling, but the longing which leads one to resort to the means is not at all abnormal.

A private member's bill, enthused by MP Baijayant Panda in Parliament in 2016, anticipated decriminalizing suicide.

Although section 309 still prevails in India, the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 enacted in July 2018 has limited its application. Suicide is a psychiatric issue and not an indication of criminal instinct under the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017. In Chapter XVI of the act, Section 115 remarks about the presumption of severe stress in case of an attempt to suicide. This provision of the act says:

“Notwithstanding anything contained in section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, any person who attempts to commit suicide shall be presumed, unless proved otherwise, to have severe stress and shall not be tried and punished under the said Code.”

The suitable Government shall have a responsibility to provide care, treatment, and rehabilitation to a person, suffering from severe stress and who attempted to commit suicide, to lessen the risk of repetition of the attempt.

Consequently, suicide has been effectually decriminalized by the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017. This Act pursues to see the accused as a victim of mental stress and assumed to have a temporary absence of his mind. Hence, it gives a different view of the so-called offence of suicide. The mental healthcare act is certainly progressive in its approach and opposing to its conventional complements such as the IPC.

Currently, the punishment under section 309 is waived off and it has been decriminalized. This has not been done to encourage suicide; it is to benefit the people who are enduring depression or mental disorder. Arguments that favour the decriminalization of section 309 was that it is an atrocious act to inflict more suffering on a man who is already suffering a lot in his mind. This act of decriminalization of the offense is not a provocation of an attempt to commit suicide, but to provide them with the care and attention they need.

To conclude, the key issues regarding suicide in India are criminalizing suicide, absence of support to suicide helpline, and society’s viewpoint of depressed persons.

The resolution to these problems includes the ensuring of psychiatric counselling in schools, colleges, offices, or other similar places. If any individual attempts act of suicide act then he/ she should be assumed as a person suffering from a temporary mental issue and be sent to rehabilitation centres.

- Simran Khurana

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.