Another Woman in South Kashmir Ends Life

An unidentified woman killed herself by consuming poison at her residence in south Kashmir, the second such incident in past 24 hours, police said on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday , a 70-year-old woman hanged herself in the neighbouring area of Yaripora.

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)