Jamshedpur: Fear of stigma drives police constable to suicide

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

Please read the following story which was published in the Hindustan

Times, Ranchi edition. A constable in Jamshedpur committed suicide

only because he suspected he was HIV positive. The problem with such

stories is that reporters in the districts rarely follow them up or

get proper inputs. It's so tragic. No one really knows if the

constable was actually HIV-positive or not, mere suspicion drove him

to kill himself.

Soumi Das; E-mail: [dsoumi@...]

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HIV scare drives constable to suicide

D Ishwar Prasad, a constable in the Jharkhand Armed Police hung

himself to death , here on Saturday, fearing he had contracted

HIV/AIDS. He left a suicide note in which he advised his wife to

undergo a medical checkup for HIV/AIDS. According to the police, the

deceased, a resident of Namda Bustee, Golmuri, committed suicide in

the evening when he was alone at home. He had no children and his

wife had gone out for some work. " The deceased hanged himself with a

rope tied to the ceiling fan in his room.

He scribbled his note on a piece of paper and left it at his

bedside, " said the OC, Golmuri police station, R Dayal.The OC

informed that the deceased was the driver of a JAP DSP. He added,

" The deceased constable in his note owned the responsibility for the

suicide and held his failing health was on account of HIV/AIDS. "

In the note, the deceased also requested his wife to go for a second

marriage. In this connection, the police have lodged a case of

unnatural death and sent the body to MGM Hospital for autopsy.