Hussainsagar lake, a hot spot for suicide bids

Hyderabad: In recent years, the number of people choosing the Hussainsagar Lake as a suicide spot has been increasing.

The lake is arguably the most popular suicide spot in Telangana now. A vigilant Lake Police and the special force deployed around the lake have rescued many women, children and men who came to end their lives. After rescuing them, the police usually counsel them or offer them legal help to fix their lives.

A majority of the people who came to die believed their death would be “peaceful’’ and “less painful’’ unlike the other methods of suicide. They think that drowning will be less painful and  they spend a few hours sitting or walking around Hussainsagar to “relax’’ before jumping into the water.

A few people also thought that since it is a public place, the chances of death would be less. Their feeling was that “if god wanted them to live, then someone would rescue them.’’ Some others admitted that the lake had been their favourite leisure spot once, so they choose the place to spend their last moments.

“After their rescue, when we counsel these people, many said that they came from extremely unpleasant homes to this tourist spot, where others relax and have fun. They looked for a peaceful place to end their lives,” said K. Sridevi, Inspector of Lake Police, who has counselled several rescued people.

During counselling, many also admitted that Hussainsagar was their favourite spot in the city. According to police officials on the ground, Tank Bund and Lepakshi are the major spots around the lake where people come to jump into the water.

A few have been rescued from areas in the children’s park and other open parks. At Tank Bund, at least 10 or more cops posted at special pickets, cover every hundred metres and look for people with suicidal tendencies. There are also cops on the move, around the lake, on bikes.Police officials say that the CCTV cameras also help them keep a vigil.

Women, kids outnumber men

The number of women and children coming to Hussainsagar Lake to commit suicide exceeds the corresponding number of men.  

Last year, 27 children were rescued by police, while the lives of as many as 14 children have been saved by the lake police this year. Most kids were brought by their mothers, who wanted to end their lives together. Lake Police rescued 119 women last year, and 39 women this year. Economic reasons, domestic violence, failure in love and various other reasons pushed these people to take the drastic decision.

On April 1 this year, a 35-year-old-woman and her two children,  a nine-year-old girl and a six-year-old girl came to the lake to commit suicide and escape torture from her alcoholic husband. When police rescued them, the children seemed bewildered and scared. “It was in the early morning. For the kids this was an exotic location and time, and they did not know what was going to happen.

After we rescued them, the woman, Ajmiri, revealed that her husband Syed Dastagiri had been assaulting her. She had no way to escape from his torture,” said one of the cops, who rescued them.If the reason behind victims’ distress is domestic violence, Lake Police inform the concerned police station to provide legal help to the victim. They did the same in the case of Ajmiri also.

According to police, at least 80 per cent of the rescued were stopped before jumping into the lake. Some 20 per cent people were pulled out from the water. “The trouble is that we are not specially trained in swimming. So we have to get down into the lake with the help of ropes or take help from local swimmers for the rescue mission. We also have less logistic support,” said a cop, who is deployed around the lake.