The News Craving
Srinagar, June 26:
And unknown person today jumped into river Jehlum in Qamarwari rea of Srinagar district in what reflects the growing trend among the people especially the youngsters in Kashmir Valley to take away their lives by commiting suicide.
In May, SDRF and NDRF teams retrieved the body of a boy who got drowned in a flood channel near Mominabad chowk Tengpora Srinagar.
Incident
On Wednesday today, an unknown person jumped into river Jhelum in Qamawari area of Srinagar and the search for the body is going on. The personnel of SDRF said that they received the information about a person jumping in the river from the cement bridge in the area following which the rescue operations were launched.
Trend of Rising Suicides
The suicide rate has increased significantly across Jammu and Kashmir particularly in Kashmir Valley. Experts have attributed a number of reasons for the increase in the suicide rate. The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh union territories in 2021 reported 1.8% and 3.87% suicide rate, says a data by National Crime Records Bureau. The suicide rate is calculated on the basis of number of suicide committed in proportion to 1 lakh people. In 2021 the number of suicides committed in J&K was 247 and 11 in Ladakh and this was 7.2% higher in comparison to 2020.
How people are taking their lives ?
The victims use a number of steps to commit the suicide. They either do this by jumping into the river or consuming some poisonous substances at their home. In Kashmir most of the suicides have been reported in Srinagar with people jumping into rivers to take their lives. Some incidents of drowning were also reported in the northern Kashmir areas of Baramulla and Sopore as well.
Reasons for rise in suicides
The are a number of reasons being attributed by experts to the rise in incidence of suicides in Kashmir. The ongoing conflict is believed to have significantly lead to an increase in psychiatric diseases which is considered to be one of the main reasons by the experts for the rise in suicide cases. The other reasons cited are the growing level of unemployment and economic distress. The incidents of youngsters consuming drugs has also increased the incidence of suicides, several doctors said. Religious leaders have advised people that taking to this extreme step was a sin in Islam, but despite that the incidents of suicides have risen in Kashmir.
