Mental Healthcare Act: issues of intersectionality and stigma need to be addressed

The State should specifically support, tailor and prioritise the mental health care needs of the vulnerable sections of the society.

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THE recent death by suicide of a second-year undergraduate law student belonging to the Scheduled Tribe [ST] community at National Law University, Orissa is another stark reminder of the increase in the number of student suicides and the consequent inadequate state of basic mental healthcare in the country. As per data shared on suicide by the Union Education Minister on December 20 last year in Lok Sabha, out of the 122 students from union government-run higher education institutions, including the Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management, that committed suicide between 2014 and 2021, half belonged to marginalised castes or tribes.

The fundamental point which cannot be lost sight of is that death by suicide cannot be generically addressed as a mental health issue without specifically acknowledging socio-economic factors, and the discrimination one faces by virtue of belonging to a marginalised section of the society.

Also read: The Pandemic Blues and Mental Health