How India Almost Decriminalized Suicide in 1979
A story of politics, policy and personal differences
The personal is political. If you talk to someone about politics, chances are you will be talking about political parties, their positions, elections, electoral margins and what not.
What we often forget is that everything around us is political, or has roots in politics of the country. Mental health and suicide are no different.
Today’s story is about how politics influenced one of the most important policy decisions on mental health in India.
Setting the Scene
Imagine India from the 1970s. The old guard of freedom fighters and revolutionaries holding offices of power is making way for new blood in the Indian political scene. At the same time, India is also taking another look at her laws.
A lot of laws were put in by the British to stifle dissent and suppress revolutionary activities. Others were simply imports of the religious views of the British on the Indian population.
One of these laws was section 309 that criminalized suicide attempts. It was introduced in 1860 and was relooked at by the 42nd Law Commission Report in 1971, a full 111 years later.
As per the report of the commission, the law should have been repealed since it was unjust and cruel to punish someone who is already tormented enough to try and take their own life. Here is an excerpt from the report,
The report was finalized in 1971 and sent to the Government of India for further discussion in the houses of the parliament. The report informed the formation of the Indian Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 1972.
If your history is strong, you might remember one more thing that rocked Indian politics in the 70s - the emergency.
The Emergency and its Aftermath
A state of emergency had been imposed in India by the then Prime Minsiter, Indira Gandhi between 1975-77. The emergency gave the central government disproportionate power to stifle any form of dissent and disagreement.
The Emergency was lifted in 1977 and immediately general elections were announced. It was obvious that Indira Gandhi was not going to win. The question was who would take her place.
Her government was succeeded by that of Morarji Desai.
His government immediately gave the go ahead to carry out trials against Indira Gandhi and other leaders for abuse of power during the Emergency era.
This one decision may have changed India’s suicide policy in the long run.
Through this time, the IPC (Amendment) Bill, 1972 lay dormant - hiding in the shadows.
1979 - Backstabbing and Opportunism
As India emerged from the dark days of the Emergency, the Rajya Sabha (Upper house) and the Lok Sabha (lower house) were back to being functional.
On 23 August 1978, after much debate, the Rajya Sabha passed the IPC (Amendment) Bill and sent it to the Lok Sabha for another seal of approval.
The approval never came.
Bigger things were going on behind the curtains in the Indian polity.
There were differences among the leaders in Morarji Desai’s party regarding the trial of Indira Gandhi. The most prominent of these dissidents was Charan Singh.
Charan Singh has been portrayed by the media as an opportunist who wanted to become the PM at all costs. Charan, and his loyalists, believe that he was a man of principle and never compromised on his ideals.
Charan Singh and his followers put intense pressure on Morarji Desai’s government over personal and policy differences. Ultimately, Desai caved and resigned from his post in July, 1979.
Charan Singh was sworn in as the new prime minister. In reality, his government was built on support from Indira Gandhi’s own party.
Somewhere, Gandhi had hoped that her support for Charan Singh’s PMship may encourage him to call off the cases against her.
The 23 Day Government
Charan Singh had a huge challenge in front of him right from the off. He had to prove his majority in the Lok Sabha. This majority depended on support from Gandhi’s party. The offer was straight-forward from Gandhi - drop the cases against me and you will get to be Prime Minister (although it was never openly offered, politics rarely works that way)
Charan Singh refused. Before he could get a chance to prove his majority, his government had collapsed. Merely 23 days after being sworn in as the prime minister.
This is where something really interesting happened. Instead of inviting a new government, the then President dissolved the Lok Sabha. This meant that new elections needed to take place.
This also meant that any bills that had not been passed by the Lok Sabha were deemed to have collapsed.
One of those bills was IPC (Amendment) Bill, 1972 which would have repealed section 309 and decriminalized suicide in India.
The legality of Suicide Today
The Mental Health Care Act passed in 2017 said that no one can be punished for attempting suicide but funnily enough, section 309 continues to be a part of the Indian Penal Code.
This has led to a paradoxical situation where suicide is not decriminalized but you also cannot be punished for it. We can only wonder what would have happened if things had turned out differently in 1979.
Power plays and political dynamics may have changed India’s suicide prevention policy. The personal..truly is political.
Enjoyed reading this one!
Devil is in the detail.