Riot toll still ticking away with spate of suicides

AHMEDABAD : The situation might have returned to "normal", but the death toll is still ticking. In the past 45 days, 18 suicide cases have been reported in the city and a majority of these cases are directly related to loss of business in a riot-torn city.
Shailesh Panchal is a distraught man today. His wife Meena immolated herself along with their three children on June 25.Riots delivered a body blow to his 10-year-old printing business as he failed to get any kind of order in the last four months. With a seven member family, including ailing parents to feed, there was absolutely no hope.
Narendra Patel and three other family members ended their lives in a guest house near Gita Mandir in Ahmedabad on June 3. Patel was in the dairy business that was badly hit in the recent riots forcing his family to take such a drastic step.
Popat Prajapati along with his wife and two sons hanged themselves at their Naroda-Kathwada residence on July 12. His book-binding business suffered heavy losses - thanks to the communal carnage.
"First came the earthquake. Then the riots. We had virtually no orders in the past four months," says Shailesh Panchal, who joined the family business after quitting his job. "With a job, at least, you are assured of a fixed income. How long can one survive on meagre savings? It has been a real tough time in the last four months," he says with tears running down his cheeks.
According to family members, Meena who used to help her husband in the business, took the extreme step following her helplessness to pay the school fees of her twin daughters. "How can I live without my young son?" says Panchal, looking blankly at a family photograph.
Talking about the sudden rise in such cases in the city, Additional Commissioner of Police, Satish Sharma says, "It is difficult to jump to any conclusion but undoubtedly we have come across such cases in the last few days."
"Most of these suicides are by members of the majority community, who were devastated by the economic fallout of the riots," says an analyst. He adds: " Those who did not find anything wrong with the riots should note this, it was not the minority alone who were affected but the majority community members too."
"It''s quite natural that when people suffer economic losses or they do not have work, they feel depressed. These suicide cases are also a manifestation of post traumatic stress order. Economic uncertainty can lead to severe depression that sometimes leads to suicide. In the post-riots period, things have been really difficult for many and huge business losses have forced many to end their lives along with family members," says Sohan Derasari, a psychiatrist.
It is not easy for somebody who has lost his daily bread, but suicide is not something that a person resorts to easily. This means that for each one who has committed suicde there are hundreds who are still suffering in agony.