In a shocking incident, a boy from the Indian city of Patna ended his life while on a WhatsApp video call with his girlfriend.
According to reports, 19-year-old Akash Kumar was chatting with his girlfriend and threatening her with suicide when he accidentally pulled the trigger of the gun he was holding. His girlfriend had reportedly pleaded with him to put down the gun and take out the bullets, which he had initially agreed to do.
“The girl told police that Akash cocked pistol at the live video chat on which she asked him to remove the pistol and take out the magazine,” police said, according to reports. “Keeping the cellphone on his legs covered with a blanket, the youth shot himself while resting on his back on the bed,” sources said.
According to statistics, India has the highest suicide rates among youth, standing at 35.5 per 100,000 people for 2012. As per numbers released in 2015, one student commits suicide every hour, and this shocking number can be attributed to the youth’s inability to cope with issues and find help.
“The popular perception is that failing exams or inability to cope with academics is the primary reason for student suicides,” Shaibya Saldanha, co-Founder of Enfold India, an NGO, told IndiaSpend. “This is rooted in a sense of helplessness or extreme frustration.”
“These deaths result from poor relationships with parents, excessive expectations, the feeling of being unwanted, poor understanding of their peer/romantic relationships. These result in an impulsive decision or a long thought-out deliberate suicide,” said Saldanha.
The increasing number of suicides can be brought down only if India spends heavily on mental health. At present India spends only about 0.06 percent of its health budget on mental health, which is far less than the four percent developed countries have set aside in their budgets.
