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Pakistan on Friday passed amendments to its colonial-era penal code, abolishing penalties for attempted suicide.
The Pakistani Parliament repealed Article 325 of the Pakistani Penal Code of 1860, which penalized attempted suicide. Under the section, suicide or attempted suicide is a crime punishable by one year’s imprisonment, a fine or both.
It states: “Anyone who attempts suicide and takes any action to facilitate such an offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment which may extend up to one year, or with a fine, or with both.”
President Dr. Arif Alvi approved the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2022, abolishing the punishment for attempted suicide, completing the enacted law, according to a proclamation issued by Malacañang.
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Previously, amendments to the law were proposed by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and passed in the Senate in May this year.
According to the amendment’s aim, “the problem of suicide should be treated as a disease and should be treated as a disease”.
Real data on the actual number of suicides per year is lacking, but according to an old World Health Organization (WHO) report, the suicide rate in Pakistan was estimated at 8.9 per 100,000 people in 2019.
In other words, approximately 19,331 people committed suicide in 2019.
The real figure is believed to be higher because many cases go unreported to avoid police investigations.
Decriminalization may help to understand the true picture of suicides in the country each year.
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