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@article{194816,
        author = {Ramnika P Singla},
        title = {MENTAL HEALTH AS A REASON FOR DECRIMINALIZATION OF SUICIDE- AN EMPIRICAL STUDY},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {10},
        pages = {5464-5472},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=194816},
        abstract = {Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 has held Attempting Suicide as A criminal Offence, which tends to punish the person who tries to or attempts Suicide. Making Suicide attempts illegal feeds a culture that holds people accountable for Suicidal thoughts and discourages them from seeking any kind of help from a professional. The fact that it discourages people from reporting similar incidents out of concern for social stigma and potential legal consequences is another concerning effect. Consequently, this hinders the precise gathering of information required to create strategies aimed at preventing suicide. The explicit decriminalization of attempted suicide by the BNS is a positive step in the direction of de-stigmatizing suicides and attempted suicides in this context. The idea of liberty as enshrined in the concept of democratic governance of human society, did raise, worldwide, the question of criminalization of an individual's wilful act, harming no other one accepting one's own self more so owing to the fact that suicide, invariably, has psychological origin rather than a criminal intent. India too, following other nations, did, in the year 2017, decriminalized the act of attempted suicide that has its origin in mental health issues. This is, of course a welcome step, well needed too. In the aftermath of 2017 legislation, law enforcing agencies now have additional responsibilities, .one; to adapt themselves to the humanitarian approach towards the person attempting the extreme step of ending his own life, and two; to investigate and scrutinise that there is no flow, that no second person is, in any way involved in the incidence of attempted suicide, assisting or abetting, for his or their own good or benefit.},
        keywords = {Suicide, Mental Health, Depression, Punishment, Decriminalization},
        month = {March},
        }