The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has quashed section 309 of India's colonial-era penal code which said a "suicide survivor could be sentenced to a year in prison, a fine, or both". The home ministry said that the action was taken based on the recommendations from the Law Commission of India, a body which periodically examines legal reform.
In a 2008 report, the body, which first suggested repealing the law back in 1971, said section 309 was inhuman and anachronistic. "Section 309 is also a stumbling block in prevention of suicides and improving the access of medical care to those who have attempted suicide," the report said. The move was welcomed and supported by 18 states and four union territories. World health organization had also welcomed the move and in a report in September 2014 said that countries which decriminalized suicide saw decrease in the number of suicide cases.
WHO also said in one report that about 35.5 deaths per 100,000 people in India were suicides and this is the highest rate in the world. About 134,799 Indians killed themselves in 2013 as per the official report.
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