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The Section 309 in the Indian Penal Code lays down the punishment for attempted suicide. The maximum punishment which can be awarded is imprisonment for a term of 1 year.
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There have been appeals to remove the section from different sources. In the Gian Kaur Case in 1996, a five judge bench of the Supreme Court of India had ruled that the section 309 was not violative of article 21 of the constitution of India. The law commission of India had also recommended removal of the section from the statute. A bill in this regard was introduced in the parliament, but was not made into law. The Supreme court in 2011 recommended to Parliament to consider the feasibility of deleting this section from the statute. Even though the section has not been removed, the Mental Healthcare Bill would effectively decriminalize attempted suicide.
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Decriminalization
Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code is set to be limited in effect by the Mental Health Care Bill, 2013. The Mental Health Care Bill was introduced to the Rajya Sabha on August 19, 2013 and provides, in article 124, that "Notwithstanding anything contained in section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, any person who attempts to commit suicide shall be presumed, unless proved otherwise, to be suffering from mental illness at the time of attempting suicide and shall not be liable to punishment under the said section." It also provides that the Government shall have the duty to provide medical care to any such person attempting suicide. The Bill, therefore, does not repeal Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, but merely provides the presumption of mental illness.
The bill was referred by the Rajya Sabha to a Standing Committee on September 18, 2013, which submitted a report on 20 November 2013. In its report, the Standing Committee had three concerns on this provision: firstly, that the presumption of mental illness would subject persons to 'mental health treatment', secondly, concerns about the consequences on Section 306 of the Penal Code, which concerns abetment to suicide, and thirdly, concerns regarding the "institutionalization in silencing victims of domestic violence." In response, the Ministry proposed amendments which would change the language of this provision to one concerning the "presumption of severe stress in case of attempt to commit suicide". The Committee accepted this recommendation, noting that there was still ambiguity regarding the stage at which this presumption would operate.
In response to a question by Vivek Gupta in the Rajya Sabha on decriminalization of suicide on 10 December 2014, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Haribhai Chaudhary replied that "it has been decided to delete Section 309 of IPC from the Statute book." However, pending the passage of the Mental Health Care Bill 2013, Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code is yet to be limited or repealed.
On 24 February 2015, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary, said that a proposal to delete Section 309 from the Indian Penal Code had been sent to the Legislative Department of the Ministry of Law and Justice for drawing up a draft Amendment Bill.
The Rajya Sabha passed the Mental Healthcare Bill on 8 August 2016, decriminalizing attempted suicide.