Murder undertrial battling depression commits suicide in Noida jail

Noida, Jul 19 (PTI) A 42-year-old inmate at the Luksar Jail of Gautam Buddh Nagar who suffered from depression died by suicide after 10 months of incarceration in a murder case, authorities said on Friday.

Banarasi, a native of Pidiya Khurd village in Balrampur district, wanted to hire a private lawyer for counsel, a police spokesperson said.

"Banarasi had been incarcerated since September 13, 2023 and charged under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) over a case lodged at the Jewar police station. The inmate used his towel to hang himself from a pipe connected to the water tank on Thursday," the spokesperson said.

Banarasi's body was sent for post mortem examination and a magistrate conducted an inquest in the matter, police said.

A jail official told PTI that Banarasi, who was not married, had been battling depression.

"He had a decent behaviour. He would meet and greet all jail officials with a smile. Because of all this, he was allowed to engage in running errands within the jail complex," the official said.

"However, at the same time he was in depression. He was worried since his family had severed ties with him and his last employer also did not support him once he got embroiled in this case," the official said, requesting anonymity.

An undertrial, Banarasi would at times tell prison authorities that he wanted to hire a private lawyer to represent him in the case, but had little money to afford one, the official said.

Banarasi's family members in Balrampur declined to take his body, saying they had severed ties with him decades ago, he said.

"When the family was contacted by jail authorities and informed about Banarasi's death, they said for them he died 20-30 years ago. Some jail officials tried to convince the family even to the extent of helping them with logistics but they showed reluctance," the official said. PTI KIS VN VN