Mumbai: Anti-suicide squad for Assembly session
Sunil Singh
Thursday, July 24, 2008, (Mumbai)
The Mumbai Police has started a new squad, an anti-suicide team from the 15th of July, especially for the ongoing Assembly session.
The idea is that during the Assembly session, there are always cases of people attempting suicide, to get the attention of policy makers. The police say that if successful, they would extend this patrolling service to other places like the High Court, which have incidents of people attempting suicides.
A man's attempt to kill himself outside the Mantralay in Mumbai last week was stopped by the police anti suicide squad.
The police say that during the Assembly session there are several attempts by people to commit suicide. They do this to get the attention of decision makers.
The squad was formed for this very purpose to stop such desperate measures.
"We have equipped this squad with fire extinguishers, blankets, video-cameras so that when a person commits suicide, we are able to rescue him quickly," said Vishwas Nagare Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police.
The squad not only stops a person from committing suicide but also counsels them. The squad has one sub-inspector, ten constables and five female constables in its ranks.
"Our men look like college students so that people can't make out they are policemen," said Mahadev Jadhav, Chief, Anti-suicide Squad.
The members of this force carry flags of different political parties, always ready to mingle with the crowd in plain clothes to see who might possibly take a dramatic step.