Suicide in Married Women: An Autopsy Study

To consider death by suicide, as a method to escape their problems, is accepting defeat. Before embarking on the journey of marriage, one envisions the best of life and has a lot of hope for their future life. However, demands of dowry and domestic abuse by the husband can cut such visions short. Suicidal deaths among women especially married women have been increasing in Indian society. Various cultural, religious, and social values have a major role to play. In our study, we analyzed suicidal deaths in married women and tried to find the socio-demographic findings that have led these women to commit suicide. The autopsies were conducted from January 2014 to July 2015 at Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangalore. The highest incidence of suicide was found in the age group of 26-32 years, who were homemakers and within seven years of marriage. In a maximum of cases, abuse for dowry or other reasons was quoted as the reason to commit suicide. We also found that most of the decedents choose to hang themselves to commit suicide followed by the consumption of poison.