Government to decriminalise attempt to suicide

New Delhi, Attempt to suicide, currently punishable by one-year jail term, will no longer be a crime with the government deciding to remove Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to decriminalise the offence.
Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary, while giving this information in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, said the Law Commission of India, in its 210th Report, had recommended the effacing of the section from the statute book, stating that the provision is inhuman regardless of whether it is or is not constitutional.
“Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to accept the recommendation of the Law Commission of India. A draft note containing the proposal to delete Section 309 fromIPC has been sent to the Legislative Department of the Law Ministry for drawing up a draft amendment bill,” he said replying a written question.
Government had earlier said since law and order is a state subject, views of all states and union territories were sought on the recommendations of the Law Commissionand 18 states and 4 union territory administrations have supported the deletion of the section that criminalises attempt to suicide.
According to government data, 1,34,799 people committed suicide in 2013 compared to 1,35,445 in the previous year. There was no official data on the number of attempted suicides.
The Law Commission, while recommending repealing of the section in 2008, had said that sympathy, counselling and appropriate treatment and not punishment will prevent a person from committing suicide. It called Section 309 a “stumbling block in prevention of suicides and improving the access of medical care to those who have attempted suicide.”

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