Attempt to suicide

Respected Sir,

The section is still in the IPC. What happened is that the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 has reduced the scope and application of the Section 309 and made the attempt to commit suicide as an exception to it.

The Section 115 of the Mental Health Care Act states that 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 Mental Healthcare Act marely puts restriction on the usage of this section.

Knowledge of law is poor in India. Keeping Sec 309 IPC as a deterrent is of no point, if public is not aware of this Act. Hence, it becomes very important to assess awareness regarding laws of suicide. After enactment of Mental Health Care Act, 2017, it has to be mandatorily implemented. It is very important to know the challenges that might be faced and to assess the awareness and attitude of public to the Act. 

The guidelines that need to be followed when a patient gets admitted with a history of an attempted suicide were set and thirty consecutive patients were interviewed once they were stabilized and after taking informed consent. A semistructured pro forma was used to collect sociodemographic details, awareness, and attitude toward the Act.