Suicide
Suicide commonly understood as the intentional killing of oneself. In terms of causation, suicides are classified mainly as altruistic, egoistic and anomic. In altruistic suicide the victim is motivated by some social ideals and purposes, encouraging or even requiring him or her to sacrifice life for a cause. Certain cults even train their votaries to sacrifice life for eternal bliss and to commit suicide, either individually or en masse. In egoistic suicide, the individual suffers from lack of adequate integration into society and support of the collective forces that prevent suicide. Anomic suicide emanates when the individual's desires and ambitions cannot find satisfaction.
Suttee or sati , self-immolation of a Hindu widow on the funeral pyre of her husband, was for centuries a celebrated religious rite in India until banned by the British rulers in 1829. In sanskrit 'sati' means a pious woman or a woman devoted to her husband. Widowhood was regarded in ancient Hindu society as a direct calamity for a woman as she had to lead a celibate life, emaciate her body by half starvation, cherish the pious memory of her husband and perform religious ceremonies for the peace of her husband's soul. Sati was prescribed by Hindu Scriptures as the best alternative to such widowhood. Harakiri in Japan was another ceremonial suicide by ripping open the abdomen with a dagger or knife. Most world religions, however, disapprove of suicide as a remedy for anything. Even Hinduism, except for sati, considers suicide as an act of dreadful sin. In Islam, a person who takes his or her own life acts against the will of God and is not entitled to proper burial rites for salvation of the soul since such a person cannot go to heaven. In law, suicide is a criminal act and is punishable.
Poor statistics do not allow for a scientific analysis of incidences of suicide in Bangladesh. However, it can be said that the number of cases, as in other South Asian countries, is quite high. Not all cases of suicide, particularly in the rural areas, are reported to the police or to the newspapers mainly to avoid legal hassle and extortion by the police and the lawyers.
Most suicides in the country are committed by younger women on account of torture in the husband's family for non-payment of dowry, social shame arising out of rape, pregnancy before marriage, infidelity of a husband, divorce and inability to bear children. Other common causes of suicide are inability to feed children because of extreme poverty, failure to pass an examination, and prolonged suffering from disease. Poverty related suicides point to the lack of social security and the inevitability of begging or, in the cases of younger women, ending up in a brothel. Generally, suicides are committed by taking an overdose of sleeping pills or pesticides, hanging from ceiling fans or bamboo bars, use of firearms, throwing oneself before a racing vehicle or a running train and drowning. There is no official record on number of persons who committed suicide in Bangladesh. Recently US Bureau of Statistics indicate that suicide committeed in different densely populated countries including Bangladesh. According to this statistics, in 2004, 15172 individuals committed suicide in Bangladesh. But this figure has been taken on hypothetical basis. Another source pointed out that tendency of committing suicide or attempting to commit is higher among the young people aged between 14 to 17 years. According to 'Health Injury 2005' report, each year around 2200 young boys and girls commit suicide which is 6 persons per day. These sources also highlight that the tendency of committing suicide among the females is higher than the male.
In 2010, a survey report of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital revealed that about 6.5 million people of Bangladesh are suicide-prone. A total of 128.8 people among 100,000 commit suicide a year. Among them, 89% are women, most of whom are unmarried. According to the latest WHO data published in April 2011 suicide deaths in Bangladesh reached 19,697 or 2.06% of total deaths. [Enamul Haq]
