Suicides increasing in Kendrapara

PTI / Oct 26, 2008, 15:35 IST

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Social and financial insecurity, disturbed conjugal life, failed love affairs, incurable and chronic diseases and troubled domestic front are the factors behind the spurt in suicides in Kendrapara.

KENDRAPARA (Orissa): The self immolation of a minor girl from Patkura in Kendrapara has brought into focus the fast emergence of suicide as a social malady in the coastal Orissa district.
Hounded by her jilted lover, who was blackmailing her, the girl took the extreme step leaving her family and neighbours in remote Bangalpur village in a state of shock.
Police said social and financial insecurity, disturbed conjugal life, failed love affairs, incurable and chronic diseases and troubled domestic front are the factors behind the spurt in suicides in Kendrapara.
The yearly suicidal death toll in the district is alarming. Police records of past three years have put the figure at an average 197 persons every year in the seven police station areas of the district.

Of the 703 unnatural death cases registered from May 2005-2008, suicidal cases accounted for 594. Highest number of such cases was rgistered in Kendrapara police station area with 167 persons committing suicide in the past three years, the police records said.
Senior police officials said mental health counselling should be given priority to curb this trend.
With total absence of mental healthcare service and psychiatric counselling an unaffordable luxury for the area, the situation has detriorated as stress and traumatic disorder cases are left unattended.

''Majority of those who committed suicides opted for hanging themselves or consuming pesticides. They chose late night hours while their family members were deep in sleep to end their lives,'' the police officers said.
There are about 42 cases of young boys and girls ending their life after having failed to forge marriage alliances. There was an instance of both the partners signing a suicide pact following parental rejection of their relation.
The past three years also witnessed disturbing incidents of debt-ridden fishermen committing suicide. Unemployment burden and loss of avocation also drove over a dozen of residents from this part to end their lives. A couple of cases of sexagenarians ending their lives were also reported during the period, the police said.

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