Pradeepsinh Jadeja: 14,702 suicide cases registered in last two years

Home minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja said that Dhanani’s question had a ‘rajkiya badboo’ (political intent) and informed the House that “if agriculture is mentioned as the profession in the FIR registered in cases of suicides, it is not correct to consider these happened because of agriculture related issues. A package of Rs 3,795 crore has been declared by the state government for the farmers”.

Jadeja also said that suicide due to crop failure was negligible in the state. Giving reasons for these unnatural deaths, Jadeja told the House during question hour on Monday that there are several reasons, including exam result-related stress, financial problems, illness or mental illness, marriage or family-related issues, that can drive a person to take the extreme step.

Responding to a written question raised by Kalabhai Dabhi, Congress MLA from Kapadvanj constituency in Kheda district pertaining to suicide cases recorded in Kheda and Anand, Jadeja said that not a single case of agrarian distress or unemployment-related suicide have been recorded in these two districts.

“There is not a single case in Kheda and Anand districts where a person committed suicide due to agriculture related issues or unemployment.”

The highest number of suicide cases in 2018 and 2019 have been recorded in Surat (2,153) followed by Ahmedabad (1,941) and Rajkot (1,651), as per data tabled in the House.

Stating that Gujarat is a prosperous state which tops the country in terms of employment, Jadeja also said that there is not a single case of suicide due to unemployment reported.

Further, the data reveals that 2,034 murder cases were recorded in the last two years in Gujarat which means on an average 2-3 cases were reported everyday. Besides, 2,720 rape cases were also reported during the same period.

Further, a total of 3,305 cases of rioting have been registered in last two years with Ahmedabad leading the list with 408 cases, followed by Surat (277), Vadodara (215) and Bhavnagar (203).