Frustration leads jailed Punjab youth to take ‘extreme step’

On Sunday morning, 28-year-old Preetam Singh (28) an undertrial for a case dating back to 1996, reportedly took the extreme step due to depression, which he says worsened as his stay in jail extended beyond his endurance.

“I was named co-accused in a bomb explosion case in Ludhiana along with Jagtar Singh Hawara one of the main accused in the Beant Singh murder case and since myarrest in December ’96, I have been lodged in variour jails in the state,” he said.

“My depression worsened after every court hearing as Hawara failed to appear and the case got adjourned every time. It’s dragged for so many years and could go on for years on end,” Preetam Singh told The Indian Express here at the civil hospital where he was taken for the medical aid. Giving details of the `extreme step’ he took, Preetam told The Indian Express that he was more depressed than usual on Sunday and “did not want to live any more”. “So I woke up at around 5:30 am, took a razor from another inmate and went to the toilet in our barrack.”

There, Preetam first crushed his member with a stone lying in the toilet. When the pain became unbearable, he cut it with the razor and flushed it down the toilet.

“I thought I could end my life by cutting off my member. Once I cut it off, there is no way the doctors can save me, I thought,” he said.

The most amazing part of the tale is that afterthe incident, Preetam did not inform anybody, but went back to bed, bleeding. The incident came to light when his room mate discovered the blood on Preetam’s clothes.