Assam Police Launch Helpline Number for Suicide Prevention

The drastically increasing incidents of suicides have claimed a lot of human lives in the country in general and Assam in particularly. As per the numbers, over 1,53,000 deaths in India in 2020 have happened due to suicides. Now, the Assam police become the first police force in the country to have a team to deal with and rescue people from committing suicide.

A helpline number has been launched to give them proper guidance. Representatives of the younger generation who are victims of mental fatigue and depression or family members of a student can call the helpline number to report their problems and receive free help and advice.

The helpline number was officially launched by Guwahati Joint Commissioner of Police Parthasarathi Mahanta on Saturday. Launching the helpline number at a press conference held at the Guwahati Metropolitan Police Crime Branch office, Mahanta urged everyone to take advantage of it.

Speaking exclusively to CNN NEWS 18, Mahanta said, “It’s been three days of introducing the toll-free numbers and we have been receiving a lot of distress calls already. As soon as we get a call from someone who is getting suicidal tendencies or any of their friends or family, we immediately send our team, which includes counsellors and we try to bring them back from the mental state of suicide. We have got calls from other states as well. And when we get calls from other states, we try to talk with them over the phone and persuade them about coming out of that mental state.”

“The numbers of suicides have been increasing alarmingly and this is an effort to save them, to give them some company, to lend them ears, to listen to them and bring them out of that mental state of suicide,” Mahanta added.

The numbers of death by suicide cases are the highest in Maharashtra, followed by Tamil Nadu.

Mahanta has urged that if more such initiatives are taken by police forces of other states, suicide rates in the country shall definitely come down.

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