Kathmandu, February 6

On September 29, 22-year-old Prakriti Rai, who had married her longtime boyfriend around five years ago, hanged herself in her living room in Kapan.

Seven days before she took her own life, her husband Prakash Rai, 26, had married a 19-year-old girl Chameli Khatri.

Nepal Police arrested Prakash and Chameli, and filed a case against them under homicide chapter of the penal code on the charge of abetting suicide of Prakriti. Metropolitan Police Range, Teku, said that it was probably the first ever case filed in the court on the charge of abetment to suicide in the country.

Prakash and Chameli were released on Rs 30,000 bail each by the Kathmandu District Court. The couple has said that Prakriti’s suicide was an impulsive act and they cannot be held for having abetted the commission of suicide.  Police report reveals that Prakash was not happy living with his wife for she did not bear children even after five years of marriage. Police said that Prakash and his second wife had forced her to commit suicide.

The government endorsed the new Criminal Code Act last year. Section 185 of the act has criminalised abetment to suicide.

Anyone found guilty of the crime can face jail sentence for five years or Rs 50,000 fine, or both. Earlier, there was no law regarding abetment to suicide. According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati at MPR, Teku, earlier police did not have legal framework to arrest and file case against a person whose name was mentioned in the suicide note.

“With the new act in effect, we can now arrest people on the charge of abetment to suicide,” said Bogati. He also said that if the law was implemented effectively, suicide cases would significantly go down.

However, only one case related to abetment to suicide has been filed till now. Metropolitan Police Rrange, Teku, alone registers at least one suicide case a day. As many as 152 people have committed suicide in the first five months of the current fiscal.

Record with MPR shows that around 70 per cent of total suicides are committed by hanging. Around 20 per cent persons commit suicide by self-poisoning. A total of 424 people had taken their lives last year in Kathmandu district. Police record shows that majority of suicides are committed by the victims of depression.