GB Nagar saw nearly 240 suicides in last 5 months

Noida/Greater Noida: That the pandemic has resulted in a sharp spike in mental health disorders among many is not new but official data from Noida and Greater Noida showed that nearly 240 people had ended their own lives in the last five months in Gautam Buddh Nagar, with officials here saying that six people killed themselves in separate incidents between Thursday and Friday.

Police officials said that in almost all of the six cases, the reason for suicide is suspected to be clinical depression.

According to a senior police official in the Gautam Buddh Nagar commissioner's office, a 25-year-old man identified as Prashant Verma from village Parthla in Sector 122 of Noida was found hanging at his house. Verma worked at a private company and was clinically depressed for the last couple of months.

Similarly, three middle-aged men, one from the Badalpur police station area and two men from the Surajpur police station area also died by suicide after they hanged themselves at their house in separate incidents reported late on Thursday night.

Also, a man from Bisrakh and a married woman from Badalpur area were found dead under suspicious circumstances which police presumed to have died by suicide on Friday. In all of these cases, mental depression, martial/property disputes, financial crunch leading to domestic violence remained the reason.

Police officials have said that there has been a rise in the cases of depression during the lockdown leading to suicides. The official data has revealed that nearly 240 persons have died by suicide in Gautam Buddh Nagar in the last five months since the lockdown was imposed. They added that on an average, one suicide daily is getting reported from the district from the past few months.

"Notably, during the lockdown, there has been a surge in cases of suicide of domestic violence in the district. A number of non-coronavirus deaths have been attributed to suicide due to distress triggered by the lockdown. In the majority of cases, financial trouble or business loss remains an underlying factor where marital or property dispute seems to be the initial cause. Even the suicidal tendencies have developed in people belonging to the age group of 25-40 years," a senior police officer aware of the data said.

While not much data has been released on suicides in Delhi during the lockdown, psychologists and online therapy portals have said that complaints of mental health disorders have surged drastically during the lockdown. In fact, there are at least two-three suicides from Delhi reported in the media every week.

Moreover, the harshness of the lockdown has also led to many blue-collar workers and daily wage earners with no option but to either turn to crime or end their lives.