Citation

Islam MR, Moona AA. Forensic Sci. Int. Mind Law 2021; 2: e100060.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.fsiml.2021.100060

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death globally and resides among the top ten growing public health concerns worldwide (World Health Organization, 2021). Every year, more than 10,000 people die by suicide in Bangladesh (Mashreky et al., 2013). Indeed, from March 2020 to February 2021, Bangladesh reported 14,436 suicide cases, 70% higher than the deaths caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during the same period (Anadolu Agency, 2021). The suicide rate in Bangladesh is 7.3 per 100,000 population (in males: 6.5 and in females: 8.2). The highest prevalence is among the 60+ age group, followed by adolescents (Mashreky et al., 2013). Another study reported that 61% of suicide victims were under-30 years. Among them, 58% were female, 24% were students, 17% were home makers (Shah et al., 2017). The factors associated with suicidal deaths in Bangladesh included age, sex, marital status, and geographical location. The most frequent methods of suicide in Bangladesh are hanging and poisoning (Shah et al., 2017; Sharmin Salman et al., 2017). With this in mind, suicide is an urgent public health concern in Bangladesh that needs to be addressed.

However, section 309 of the Penal Code, 1860 defines suicide as a criminal offense: "Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offense, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both" (The Penal Code, 1860). According to this Act, Bangladeshi police can arrest people for attempting suicide, and the court can punish them accordingly. Therefore, in Bangladesh, people are unwilling to share suicidal thoughts, seek help or admit past suicide attempts to avoid social or legal procedures. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggested all the nations amend the laws related to suicide to provide adequate provision to seek help (World Health Organization, 2014), but suicide remains overlooked in most cases in Bangladesh (Anadolu Agency, 2021)...

Language: en

Keywords

Bangladesh; Media reporting; Suicide; WHO guideline