Legal experts favour abolition of law against suicide attempt

By Pritam Pal Singh & Hary M Pillai New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) Government’s move to do away witha colonial penal law that prosecutes a person for a failedsuicide bid has evoked sympathetic views from legal experts,who favoured its abolition saying the provision is "archaicand outdated" and has led to no conviction in 156 years. They supported the move to decriminalise IPC section 309(punishment for attempt to commit suicide), saying a persondoes not take the extreme step unless "something seriouslygoes wrong in one’s life" and such action is taken only whenthere is "momentary weakness in mental strength". Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP KTS Tulsi said, "Ientirely support it and it is desirable", while pointing outthat nowadays suicide attempts have become common due tostressful life. "This was a criminal offence when suicide was not commonamong the people…People are taking such steps nowadays aslife has become stressful," Tulsi said. "Why punish a personwho is ready to give up his/her life," he asked. Former Law Minister and senior lawyer Shanti Bhushan wenta step further and said, "It is his/her life and he/she shouldbe allowed to take his/her life", but nobody commits suicideunless "something serious goes wrong in one’s life". The Mental Health Bill 2013, which among other thingsseeks to decriminalise suicide attempts presuming that aperson suffers from mental illness at the time of attemptingto kill self unless proved otherwise, was passed in RajyaSabha during the Monsoon Session earlier this month. Whenpassed, it would amend Section 309 of the IPC which came intobeing in 1860. Advocate and Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Lekhi termed thegovernment’s move to bring the bill as "positive and liberalstep" and said that the measure provided for rehabilitation ofa person, having mental illness and who attempted to suicide,to reduce the risk of recurrence of such incidents. However, she held a different view on whether the rightto life also included the right to die, saying the lifeguaranteed under the Constitution does not include right todie as "any violent act which ends a life amounts to murder." On this count, Tulsi said, "The constitutional right tolive with dignity also gives the right to die with dignity".(More) PTI PPS HMP ABA SJK RKS ARCDV