70-year-old woman hangs herself in Kashmir

A 70-year-old woman hanged herself in Yaripora area of south Kashmir, a police spokesman said here today.

He said Raja Begum hanged herself in her home at Yaripora in south Kashmir district of Kulgam last evening.

It was not immediately clear why she took this extreme step, they said, adding police has registered a case and initiated proceedings.

Suicide is a taboo subject in the devoutly Muslim state, so many suicide deaths are never reported. But the few figures available offer an insight into the darkest corner of Kashmir’s psyche.

Research from the Psychiatric Diseases Hospital says Kashmir’s suicide rate has increased 40-fold since militancy broke out over two decades ago.

Before 1989, Kashmir’s suicide rate was 0.5 per 100,000 people.


(Free Press Kashmir)