Uncertainty amid pandemic pushing many over the edge

GURGAON/RAJKOT/SURAT/ BHOPAL: Riddhi Chavda, 24, was alone at home in Gujarat’s Jamnagar district on Wednesday when she decided to hang herself from a ceiling fan. Police said Riddhi, daughter of former BJP MLA Meghji Chavda, was depressed and took her life when she realised her prospects of studying in a Canadian university were bleak.
Riddhi isn’t alone. As the Corona virus scare continues and the lockdown makes people look at an uncertain future, many are taking their lives in desperation. The trauma of finding themselves or their family members testing positive is also driving many to take this extreme step.
On Thursday, a 54-year-old man — whose wife had tested positive a day earlier — was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his Gurgaon house while in Kanpur, a 30-year-old man tried to commit suicide by consuming sanitizer.
“Riddhi had completed her bachelors in engineering and sought admission in a Canadian university for her masters. She had even paid the fees to the foreign university,” said investigating officer MP Mori.
The 54-year-old victim in Gurgaon used to help his brother at the latter’s flour mill. His son was a pharmacist at a frontline hospital in Gurgaon and daughter-in-law a nurse at another hospital. His brother said the victim was devastated when his wifetested positive on Wednesday evening.
In Kanpur, a 30-year-old man from Jharkhand, who had tested positive and was undergoing treatment, tried to end his life by consuming sanitizer on Thursday. His condition is now said to be stable.
The trauma of being diagnosed with Covid-19 is also leading people to flee from hospitals and quarantine centres and attempt suicide.
A man who had run away from a quarantine centre in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district was found hanging on Wednesday evening.
Police said Kalloo Ahirwar, 45, had run away on April
1. He worked as a labourer in Jabalpur, which has suddenly emerged as a corona hotspot.
In Surat, a 50-year-old Covid-19 positive patient, who had mysteriously gone missing from the New Civil Hospital on April 28, was found dead on the campus of the hospital on Thursday.