87 addicts committed suicide in Haryana in 2019, 13 died due to drug overdose: NCRB

Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 2 

As many as 87 people committed suicide due to drugs or liquor addiction, while 13 died due to drug overdose in Haryana in 2019, according to the National Crime Record Bureau’s report on ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India-2019’.

In 2018, 137 people had committed suicide due to drugs or alcohol addiction while 86 had died due to drug overdose in Haryana.

In neighbouring Punjab, 45 people had died due to drug overdose and 102 had committed suicide due to their drugs or liquor addiction in 2019, while in the previous year 78 had died due to drug overdose while 55 had committed suicide due to addiction.

Haryana and Punjab

There were 4,191 suicides in Haryana in 2019—a jump of 18.2 per cent from 2018 when 3,547 people had taken their lives. In Punjab, there was a rise of 37.5 per cent in suicides as 2,357 had committed suicide in 2019 as compared to 1,714 in 2018.

The highest number of suicides in Haryana in 2019 had taken place due to illness (753), followed by family problems (649), marriage-related issues (317), professional or career problems (63) and in 587 cases the causes are not known.

Among the marriage-related issues, 60 had committed suicide due to “non-settlement” of their marriage. It included 43 men and 17 women. Also, 20 suicides were due to extra-marital affairs which included 15 men and five women.

Mental illness was the reason behind 302 suicides in Haryana which included 242 men and 60 women while 422 cases were of prolonged illness.

Seventeen committed suicide due to issues in love affairs, which included 10 men and seven women.

In the distribution of suicides profession-wise, 402 housewives had committed suicide in Haryana. It comprised 45 per cent of total suicides among women in the state.

While 179 cases were among the students which included 123 males and 56 females. Also, 503 suicides by unemployed included 464 males and 39 women in 2019.

Farmers’ Suicides

Though there were no farmers’ suicides, as per the report 219 agricultural labourers had committed suicide in 2019—with the suicides nearly doubling as 2018 had reported 104 such cases.

Punjab witnessed a rise in farmers’ suicides. In 2019, 239 farmers had committed suicide, including 203 who cultivate their land while 36 were those who cultivated on leased land. Besides, there were 63 suicides by agricultural labourers. In 2018, there were 229 suicides by farmers including 202 by those who cultivate their land and 27 by those who work on leased land. There were 94 suicides by agricultural labourers in 2018.

Mode of committing suicide

Hanging is most common way of ending a life in Haryana as 1,177 (28.1 per cent) used it to end their lives, while 686 people took poison (16.4 per cent), which included 336 consuming pesticide. There were 172 suicides by touching electrical wire and 16 by self-inflicting injury in Haryana.

The majority of suicides took place in low-income groups in Haryana. There were 2,336 suicides (55.7 per cent) among people whose earning was less than Rs 1 lakh per annum and 1,391 suicides (33.2 per cent) among those having income between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per annum.