Ram Singh, the main accused of the Delhi rape case and the man who was driving the bus on December 16 was found hanging from his Tihar Jail cell in the wee hours of Monday morning. It seems too convenient that the main accused should hang himself using his clothes in his cell before his almost-inevitable fate could be determined by the natural course of justice. The brother of the victim who died was understandably unhappy about the incident. 'He knew he was going to die anyway because we had and still have such a strong case against him,' the physiotherapist's 20-year-old brother told Reuters. 'I'm not very thrilled with the news that he killed himself because I wanted him to be hanged ... publicly. Him dying on his own terms seems unfair. But, oh well, one is down. Hopefully the rest will wait for their death sentence.' ML Sharma, a lawyer who represented Ram Singh's brother Mukesh in the case told FirstPost, 'This is not a suicide. This is an encounter. This is what I had said on first day in court and argued also that he will be killed in an encounter.'
Was it a security lapse or is there something more sinister at play? But I'll digress because conspiracy theories are beyond the scope of a health site.
What drove Ram Singh to suicide? Was it knowing that his fate was inevitable and taking one's life seemed like an easier alternative to a long protracted affair where he'd be constantly abused and put under the spotlight? According to the British journal Lancet, suicide is the leading cause of death among Indian youngsters and over 1.8 lakh suicides take place in India every year. And prisoners are a very high risk group when it comes to committing suicide. According to the World Health Organisation, pre-trial detainees have a suicide attempt rate of 7.5 times the general population and sentenced prisoners have a suicide rate of six times the general population. Inmates are likelier to commit suicide because prisoners mostly belong to the group which is more mentally unstable, likelier to abuse various substances, likelier to suffer from depression and other illnesses.
Read:Decoding suicides - what makes a man take his life
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) records show that a total of 68 suicides took place in 2011 in jails across the country. People who commit suicides in prison can be broadly categorised into two categories pre-trial inmates and sentenced prisoners.
Pre-trial inmates - The pre-trial inmate is usually 18-25 and this is usually the first time he steps into prison. Usually, they are substance abuse related crimes and they are likelier to commit suicide in the first few hours of incarceration. Another vulnerable window appears right before the time they're set to appear in front of a court (which Ram Singh was about to).
Sentenced prisoners - The other profile usually consists of prisoners who've spent a considerable amount of time in jail (four to five years) and have been sentenced for lengthy periods.
Read:How to deal with suicidal thoughts
Was Ram Singh likely to commit suicide?
Now Ram Singh though he was older than 25 definitely fits the first profile. His investigations have revealed a history of bad temper, quarrels, and run-ins with his employers. His neighbours described him as a man who would often be drunk after work and he was also prone to bouts of blinding rage which forced three of his brothers to leave the family home. In 2009, Ram Singh had a serious accident which led to an arm injury and this made him more bitter and violent. His wife too passed away three years ago from a kidney-related ailment. While history of his man suggests that he was certainly capable of committing suicide, the authorities should have had the safeguards in place to prevent such a situation. Or maybe this is exactly what they wanted? Sadly, we'll never know.
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