Then a DIG with Kerala Crime Branch and disturbed by the rising number of suicide cases, Siby Mathews decided to find answers, and solutionsHis head buried in papers, his mind disturbed by what he rea
Then a DIG with Kerala Crime Branch and disturbed by the rising number of suicide cases, Siby Mathews decided to find answers, and solutionsHis head buried in papers, his mind disturbed by what he read, many a night Siby Mathews sat on his office chair a worried man. He was then a DIG with the Kerala Crime Branch.
In his hands would come many cases that he would study, and prepare notes for. ‘Suspicious/unnatural death’ would be written on top of case files, and Siby would wonder again: Why do people in this country take their lives for flimsy reasons As years passed by, he felt more and more strongly that many of these cases are preventable. If someone had intervened at the right time, they would still be alive.
He wanted to research on the subject, take some time off and study. But he wouldn’t get leave. So he went to the University and began part-time work on his research. At the end of his study, Dr Ajith Kumar, his research guide, told Siby that he should publish his findings. Siby first published it in Malayalam, but realising the national importance of the subject, brought out the English version: Kerala On Suicide Point.
“When I went to the interview board, they said many people have tried to research on this subject but would give up because either the data is hard to get, or they find it a traumatic experience to interview the bereaved relatives of suicide victims,” says Siby Mathew, sitting in his office of Chief Information Commissioner, Kerala State. “But I could get data, I was in the police.”
In his book, he divides his data into districts, into causes, into male and female ratios, and many more areas of study. Nuclear family concept becomes one of the main reasons for family suicides, which come from not being able to share problems with anyone outside the immediate family. “Another problem is nuclear family concept which leaves aged parents abandoned, neglected, leading to their lack of health, and getting dejected, they commit suicide.”
He had stated in his book that 60% of the suicides are by people in the age group of 25 to 45. “Domestic quarrels, tension or stress, financial worries, chronic illness all become reasons. But the one factor that drives them all to the extreme step is loss of hope,” says Siby.
He has also recommended solutions in the book: “Suicide prevention clinics, debt relief for farmers, help-lines like the Kochi-based Maithri, old age homes ” He has visited suicide survivors and heard their experiences, some of which he has quoted in the book. He has also personally intervened to help some, which he has not mentioned in the book. “I was talking to a man who had attempted suicide for the second time — a poor barber who cut his vein out of depression. His house was on loan, he wanted to modernise his shop to save enough for his daughter’s marriage.
Hearing this, I got some people together and we told him we will take care of his loan. He later called me to say he modernised his shop and invited me to his daughter’s wedding.” Throughout the book, Siby has narrated real life incidents of teen suicides, of housewives taking their lives, of poor families and their never-ending debts. He believes that someone who reads the book will not commit suicide.
