AN INDIAN woman's SOS email to Boris Johnson and his team's quick response have helped India's Delhi police prevent her from attempting suicide.
"If help is not met in next two hours, would commit suicide," the woman wrote in an email to the British prime minister on Wednesday night (26).
Police officers suspected that the woman had been suffering from psychiatric disorders due to a broken marriage and financial woes.
On receiving the email, UK officials quickly informed the Indian High Commission in London, which alerted authorities in Delhi.
A police officer said the woman had sent the email to Johnson seeking help, apparently in an extremely distressful state of mind.
The woman reportedly had a huge financial burden due to loans and lived in a rented accommodation in Delhi's Rohini area.
Starting around 1am, the police checked each house in the locality and managed to locate her house after two hours of search, said police deputy commissioner PK Mishra.
On breaking open the house's door, the woman came outside, "looking fraught with anxiety and fear", the police officer said.
The woman said she was okay and requested the officers and emergency team to go back. Officers noted that the woman was stinking and about 18 cats roaming around the "filthy" house, suggesting that it had been not cleaned for a long time.
She told the police that she used to be a school teacher, but left the job due to personal reasons. She was a divorcee, and had taken some loans a few years ago but failed to pay dues.
Two psychologists and a doctor were called in immediately to address her problems or to advise if the police should obtain the requisite assent of the magistrate concerned to shift her to the Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences hospital for further treatment.
The women, who refused to give details of her relatives, was allowed to stay at her home and was being counselled, the police said.
Kulsuma Aktergetty images