The Law of Suicidal Attempts.
Suicide, as before described, is a felony; the attempt to commit a felony is in the eye of the English law a misdemeanour; consult R. v. Higgins, 2 East., 8; and R. v. Martin, 9 C. and P. 213-215. An attempt at Felo-de-se is a misdemeanour over which the quarter sessions have jurisdiction; but it is not an attempt to commit murder within the meaning of the Act 24 & 25 Vict, c. 100, see R. v. Burgess, 1. L. and C. 258, 32 L. J., M. C. 56.
When the police hear of an attempt at suicide, the culprit is taken in charge by them; if seriously injured the patient is watched in hospital by a police officer. It is customary to charge the offender before the magistrates as soon as practicable; in such a case it is more usual to bind over the prisoner to “keep the peace,” than it is to send the case for trial; if there be any evidence of insanity, the prisoner is examined by the police surgeon and another medical man; and if found to be insane is certified as such, and confined in an asylum.
I cannot refrain from saying that both law and custom with respect to Suicide are in a very unsatisfactory and anomalous state. On the one hand, self-murder is ranked by the law as a felony, one of the worst of crimes;─on the other hand, hardly one suicide a year is called a felon. Suicide is not in law any proof of the existence of insanity, yet no sooner is the suicide quite dead, than almost every one cries out that he was insane. Again, an attempt at suicide is a misdemeanour punishable by imprisonment, yet a person caught in the act and taken before the magistrates is generally dismissed from custody, not because of insanity, certainly not, because if that were the plea, he would be sent to an asylum, and not set free; but let the culprit presently die from a cause dependent on the suicidal injury, and the verdict will be that he was insane. Surely such incongruities cannot be allowed to exist much longer.
[CHAPTER XX.]
SUICIDE IN BRITISH INDIA.
The information conveyed in the preceding pages, in reference to suicide in England, and in the countries of Europe, applies in a small degree only to Hindostan. In this vast tract of country, including many separate states, some of which are still under native rulers, and in which very different religious beliefs exist, and are practised side by side, the suicidal tendencies are very varied. The habits and customs of the several races are so entirely distinct in many points, that no surprise need be felt when we observe the very different attitudes these hold in respect to self-destruction. The Mohammedan races avoid it; the Brahmins encourage it in their religious customs, and in their social life; whilst the floating British population exhibits a slightly higher rate than that of the British at home.
The laws respecting suicide in the districts under British rule, are enacted by the Indian Penal Code, cap. xvi., ss. 300, 305, 306, 309.
For other regulations refer to s. 19 of Reg. xix. of 1807; and Nizamut Adawlut Reports, Vol. iii. of 1833.
The average suicide rate for India, as a whole, I estimate at 40 per million; the rate for the city of Calcutta alone was estimated some years ago as high as one in 2,000.