TAPLEJUNG, Dec 22:  The Taplejung police has intensified a campaign against suicide through its units across the district following an unanticipated rise in suicide cases in the district.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kailash Rai, the District Police Office, Taplejung has been training community members, students, teachers and civil society leaders through public awareness programs in a bid to prevent suicide.

According to him, such programs held with the cooperation of community members can reach every household in the community. 

The program is being conducted as a public awareness campaign to prevent suicide and as a reduction measure.

The program is being conducted at schools and community level. The police are also planning to carry out such campaigns more effectively in coordination with the local units.

According to the Information Officer and Spokesperson of the District Police Office, Kushram Karki, 21 people have died due to suicide in the district as of mid-November of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23). Most of the people committed suicide by hanging. The number of people committing suicide in such a manner stood at 16.

Two people lost their lives by jumping off a cliff and one by jumping into a river. The police in their annual statistics have mentioned that three people died by consuming poison.

According to records of the police, 35 people died due to suicide in the fiscal year 2021/22. The number of suicides reached 21 in the first four months of the current year. If the rate of suicides remains the same, it will break the record of the previous year. Taking this situation into consideration, the police have launched public awareness programs at the community level to prevent and reduce suicide rate.

According to DSP Rai, to eradicate the threat of suicide the only option is to adopt effective measures for suicide prevention and mitigation for which cooperation of the community is a must.

DSP Rai believes that local elected representatives, teachers, students, community members and civil society leaders can play vital roles as facilitators of public awareness.  He added that the suicide prevention and reduction campaign will gradually gain significance  if the community members can take the main responsibility of awareness.  

According to experts, young people and teenagers, people living alone after divorce, people with stressful marriages, women who have been subjected to domestic and gender violence, sexual exploitation, rape, social stigma, people who have failed in love, people who have suffered great financial losses,people who are disappointed with life and have lost confidence are more at risk of committing suicide.

Depression is considered as one of the main factors that triggers suicide. Experts have advised that people with high risk of suicide should be treated with love and their views must be listened. Such people should be provided help and should not be ignored by family members and friends.