New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the former’s “joke” on suicides while addressing a media conclave, labelling it “insensitive”.
Taking to Twitter, the former Wayanad MP said, “The Prime Minister cracked a joke on suicides. How can anyone be so insensitive about suicides? Government statistics show that in 2021, more than 1.64 lakh Indians died by suicide. Every day, 450 people are die by suicide in our country and this is a ‘joke’ for the Prime Minister.”
Speaking at a conclave of media network on Wednesday, PM Modi shared a joke about how a professor, reading the suicide note left by his daughter, realised how she got her spellings wrong despite his efforts to get her to spell correctly.
He cracked the “joke” after noting how the editor-in-chief of the media network had improved his Hindi speaking skills.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi also hit out at PM Modi over his “joke”.
Taking to Twitter, she posted, “Depression and suicide, especially among the youth IS NOT a laughing matter. According to NCRB data, 164033 Indians committed suicide in 2021. Of which a huge percentage were below the age of 30. This is a tragedy, not a joke. The Prime Minister and those laughing heartily at his joke ought to educate themselves better and create awareness rather than ridicule mental health issues in this insensitive, morbid manner.”
The internet is angry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he ‘joked’ about suicide, terming it as extremely insensitive. Modi was speaking at a media event in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, he spoke about a woman who dies by suicide and the following events.
This is what he said.
(Siasat.com advises its readers to read with caution as some parts can be triggering.)
Modi starts off by saying, “In our childhood, we would hear a joke.”
He talks about a professor and his daughter who dies by suicide, However, before taking the step, the daughter leaves a note for her father.
“She left a chit, ‘I am tired of life and don’t want to live. So I will jump into the Kankaria Lake and die.’,” Modi said.
“In the morning, the professor realised his daughter was missing. He then finds her note on the bed. The father suddenly turns angry. He says, “I am a professor. For so many years I have worked hard, and even now, she has spelt ‘Kankaria’ wrong,” Modi concludes the purported joke followed by laughter from the crowd.
Modi also seems to be in a jovial mood.
The event was hosted by the mainstream TV news channel Republic TV. Its head Arnab Goswami was seen enjoying the joke along with others in the crowd.
Modi’s joke has not gone well with social media users who lashed out at the Prime Minister for being ‘insensitive’. Many Opposition parties, including Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, AAP, and Samajwadi leaders termed it as a statement of ‘disregard for human life’.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said depression is not something to laugh about.
“Depression and suicide, especially among the youth IS NOT a laughing matter. According to NCRB data, 164033 Indians committed suicide in 2021. Of which a huge percentage were below the age of 30. This is a tragedy not a joke. The Prime Minister and those laughing heartily at his joke ought to educate themselves better and create awareness rather than ridicule mental health issues in this insensitive, morbid manner. @TLLLFoundation @narendramodi
Depression and suicide, especially among the youth IS NOT a laughing matter.
According to NCRB data, 164033 Indians committed suicide in 2021. Of which a huge percentage were below the age of 30. This is a tragedy not a joke.
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 27, 2023
Her brother Rahul Gandhi said that millions of families are affected by suicide. “Thousands of families lose their children due to suicide. The Prime Minister should not make fun of them!” he tweeted.
हज़ारों परिवार आत्महत्या के कारण अपने बच्चों को खोते हैं।
The Congress party stated that according to government statistics, more than 1.64 lakh Indians died by suicide in 2021.
“The Prime Minister is telling a ‘joke’ on ‘suicide’. How can anyone be so insensitive about suicide? Government statistics show- In 2021, more than 1.64 lakh Indians committed suicide. Every day 450 people are forced to commit suicide in our country and this is a ‘joke’ for the Prime Minister. Don’t know how much…”
प्रधानमंत्री जी ‘आत्महत्या’ पर ‘चुटकुला’ सुना रहे हैं।
आत्महत्या को लेकर कोई भी इंसान इतना संवेदनहीन कैसे हो सकता है?
सरकारी आंकड़े बताते हैं- 2021 में 1.64 लाख से ज्यादा भारतीयों ने खुदकुशी की।
हमारे देश में हर रोज 450 लोग आत्महत्या करने को मज़बूर हैं और प्रधानमंत्री के लिए… pic.twitter.com/qVtJTZqavI
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj Kumar Jha pointed at the applause that followed. “We have become a sick society,” he tweeted.
“Sickness is visible when the Prime Minister of the country tells a joke on a sensitive issue like ‘suicide’, but even more frightening is the applause and laughter after the joke. We have become a very sick society….. Jai Hind,” he tweeted.
रुग्णता तो दिखती है जब देश के प्रधानमन्त्री ‘आत्महत्या’ जैसे संवेदनशील मसले पर चुटकुला सुनाते हैं लेकिन उससे भी ज्यादा भयावह है चुटकुले के बाद की तालियाँ और अट्टहास. हम बहुत ही बीमार समाज हो गए हैं…..जय हिन्द
Aam Admi Party (AAP) also tweeted condemning the joke. “Imagine the insensitive disregard for human life by our Prime Minister who needs to crack a joke on suicide!?!? Ironically, when this #AnpadhPM makes a sick & cruel joke on a girl’s suicide, the nation is expected to laugh!”
Imagine the insensitive disregard for human life by our Prime Minister who needs to crack a joke on suicide!?!?
Apart from political parties, citizens have expressed anger and shock at PM Modi’s purported joke. Here are some of them.
According to the Indian Journal of Psychiatry, India registered the highest number of suicides last year.
“In terms of the rate of suicide, India reported a rate of 12 (per lakh population) and this rate reflects a 6.2% increase during 2021 over 2020.[1] The number reported is the highest ever recorded in the country since inception of reporting of suicides by the NCRB in 1967. This is a genuine cause of concern,” the paper stated adding a significant number were students.
“The highest percentage of suicides consistently occurring in the young, productive population of the country over the years calls for serious action from the Union and the State governments,” the paper stated.
Rising unemployment, financial struggle, mental health issues, domestic violence, government policies, systematic failure, corruption, debts, agrarian crisis, and religious as well as casteist hate crimes were some of the many triggers that force a person to die by or attempt suicide.
Vijayawada: A special court here has sentenced to life imprisonment a suspended Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader for sexually harassing a 14-year-old girl and abetment of suicide.
The POCSO Special Court awarded the sentence to 50-year-old Vinod Kumar Jain on Wednesday.
Special Court Judge S. Rajini also imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh on him. Out of this fine amount, Rs 2.4 lakh will be paid to the girl’s family.
Unable to bear the sexual harassment, the girl had committed suicide by jumping from a five-storey apartment building on January 29, 2022.
In a suicide note, which police later recovered from her bedroom, the student of class 9 wrote that she was ending her life due to sexual harassment by Vinod Jain, who resides in the same building.
On a complaint by the girl’s grandfather, police had registered a case against Vinod Jain under sections 305, 306, 354, 509 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8 and of Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and arrested him.
Following the incident, TDP suspended Vinod Jain, who had contested in Vijayawada municipal elections on the party ticket.
Police investigation into the case had revealed that the accused had been sexually harassing the girl by inappropriately touching her for two months. The girl wrote in her suicide note that Vinod Jain was resorting to harassment everyday in the apartment premises.
The victim wrote that she did not reveal this to her parents due to fear and shame.
The accused has remained in jail since February 2022. Police said 20 witnesses recorded their statements in the case and based on the evidence and after examining the witnesses, the court found him guilty.
Vinod Jain has been sentenced for life under IPC section 305 (abetment of suicide of child) and fined for Rs 1 lakh. The court also sentenced him for seven years and imposed fine of Rs 50,000 under POCSO section 9 (L) and 10, three years imprisonment and Rs 50,000 fine under section 12 of POCSO, five years imprisonment and Rs 50,000 fine under IPC section 354 and three years imprisonment and Rs 50,000 fine under IPC section 509.
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered exhumation and a second post-mortem examination of IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed’s body, which was buried in his home state Assam six months ago, saying that it is necessary to bring out the truth behind his death.
The father of the third-year student had moved the court seeking formation of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe into the death of Ahmed. His body was found in his hostel room at IIT Kharagpur in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district on October 14, 2022.
“The body of the victim Faizan Ahmed is ordered to be exhumed,” Justice Rajasekhar Mantha directed, holding that a second post-mortem examination is “vital and necessary for arriving at the truth behind his death.”
He directed that the second post-mortem of the body of Ahmed, a mechanical engineering student who hailed from Tinsukia in Assam, be conducted at the state-run Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, after exhumation.
Noting that an affidavit of Ahmed’s parents consenting to the exhumation and a second post-mortem has been filed in court, Justice Mantha directed the investigating officer to coordinate with Assam Police for the exhumation and ordered that the West Bengal police will bring the body to Kolkata.
Justice Mantha directed that Dr Ajoy Kumar Gupta, a forensic expert appointed by the court for his opinion on the likely cause of death of Ahmed, will conduct the post-mortem examination in the presence of doctors who conducted the previous autopsy.
Adjourning the hearing in the matter till June 13, the court directed that the exercise be completed within one month from the date of order.
Gupta, a retired forensic expert of the state CID, stated in a preliminary report filed before the court that two injury marks on the back of the head of the victim were not mentioned in the first post-mortem examination report.
It said that some cut marks on the arms of the body were inflicted after the student’s death.
The police had mentioned seizure of a chemical called Emplura (sodium nitrate) in a bottle from the student’s hostel room.
Court-appointed amicus curiae Sandip Bhattacharya submitted that sodium nitrate, a yellowish powder, is normally used to preserve meat.
There was some yellowish residue in a bucket found by Gupta and Bhattacharya during their visit to the room, the report stated.
It was stated before the court that when a body decomposes, it is impossible that the fellow inmates of the hostel would not be able to detect it, but there was mysteriously no smell from the body for three days.
“The presence of this chemical Emplura opens up serious questions as regards the time of death and whether it may have been used to preserve the body after the death of the victim,” Justice Mantha observed.
Chennai: A second-year B Tech student, hailing from Madhya Pradesh, was found dead in his hostel room at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, police said on Friday.
The suspicious death, allegedly by suicide, makes it the fourth such incident occurring at the prestigious institution over the last three months.
The incident came to light on Friday when the deceased student’s friends suspected something amiss when he did not open his hostel room door. They informed the warden who contacted the Kotturpuram police station.
On breaking open the door, police found the dead body and sent it for post-mortem after registering a case.
Earlier this month, on April 2, a PhD student of IIT Madras had died by suicide. Sachin Kumar Jain from West Bengal had died by suicide in his room in Tamil Nadu’s Velachery, triggering protests on campus by students who demanded a probe into the matter.
Gurugram: Karni Sena national president Surajpal Amu’s brother, Nainpal, 48, has allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in an Oyo room in Sohna, the police said on Thursday.
According to the police, the body of Nainpal, who took the extreme step on late Wednesday evening, was found hanging in the bathroom.
It is being said that Nainpal was suffering from depression for a long time and also underwent treatment for a week.
Nainpal was recently discharged after recovery, but due to a faulty air conditioner at home, he was shifted to a room in Oyo Residency near their house in Sohna, where he committed suicide.
Meanwhile, the victim’s body was handed over to the family after an autopsy.
The body was cremated on Thursday, the police said.
Hyderabad: The Warangal District Court has granted conditional bail to the accused Dr. Mohammed Saif in the PG Medico Suicide Case wherein a first-year student of post-graduate died by suicide. The accused was granted bail by producing a guarantee of Rs. 10,000 and two sureties.
He is required to appear before the court every Friday afternoon for the next 16 weeks. The bail can be revoked if attempts are made to tamper with the evidence or threats are posed to the trial.
Telangana PG Medico Suicide Case
The case involves the alleged harassment of Dr. D Preethi, a first-year student of the post-graduate (MD) in the department of Anaesthesia by her senior at the Kakatiya Medical College (KMC), Warangal. She died by suicide, and Saif, a second-year post-graduate medical student of KMC, was booked by the police in the Warangal district.
The officials have analyzed the WhatsApp chats which revealed that Saif resorted to targeted harassment of Preethi to insult her.
After investigation, the police booked Saif on charges of instigating Preethi to attempt suicide by subjecting her to constant harassment by posting “insulting comments” about her on the WhatsApp groups managed by some of the PG medical first and second-year students of the KMC.
Kolkata: A couple committed suicide in Bengal’s West Midnapore district after leaving a wish list about the future of their pet dog.
On Friday night, the local police recovered the bodies of Debasish Ghosh and Jolly Ghosh from their residence in the Alamgunj area along with a suicide note found from from near their bodies.
Sources in the Ghatal police station said that in the suicide note, there was a line wherein the couple mentioned that debt burden forced them to take the extreme step, the remaining part of the note was a wish list for ‘Jango’, their pet Golden Retriever dog.
The couple in the note expressed their desire that Jango be handed over to an NGO working for the welfare of animals.
“The note also has details of Jango’s food habits along with a daily diet chart. The note mentions the name and contact details of a veterinarian under whose supervision Jango was,” the police said.
The note ends with a heartfelt prayer that any individual or organisation adopting Jango should take care of him as per the points mentioned in the wish list.
“We will make all possible attempts so that Jango is handed over to an NGO or an individual dog-lover ready to adopt him. But the question is where to house him in the interim period. The dog seems to be in a totally confused state unable to track his owners,” the police said.
