How Kurla PS’ Nirbhaya squad averted woman’s alleged suicide bid

Mumbai police swiftly responded to a suicide attempt call, providing crucial support and counseling, highlighting the need for mental health resources

Mumbai: At around 1:20 pm on Friday, the police control room at the police headquarters in south Mumbai, received a distress call from a man who sought help to prevent his wife from allegedly attempting suicide. The officers forwarded the details immediately to the helpline number of the Nirbhaya squad of Nehru Nagar police station in Kurla, as the family resides close by. The man had shared the location with the cops. Subsequently, a three-member team from the Nirbhaya squad swung into action.

The Nirbhaya squad has been operational since January 2022 and can be reached at helpline number: 103. Representational Image

The patrol car arrived on the spot in less than 10 minutes. After their arrival, it took cops approximately an hour to turn around the situation.

When she arrived at the spot, constable Varsharani Pol found that the caller’s wife had locked herself up in a room, following a supposed war of words with her husband. Her intention was to die by suicide by hanging.

“The husband sounded anxious on call. He was certain she was set on taking her life, following the quarrel; and asked us to rush to the spot,” said Pol, who went into the house first and was joined by constable Sable and police sub-inspector Patil.

Pol and the distressed woman’s husband managed to open the locked door using a key which the latter could not find in the house earlier, given the flow of events. Once she was in the room, she sat the woman down for a few minutes of spontaneous counselling.

“I managed to persuade her against committing the act and to take any such drastic step in the future. For while I felt she took it all in and I had managed to get her to think differently. But within a fraction of a second, she tried to run away to the room once again. That’s when I decided to take her to the police station,” said Pol.

At the police station, after an interchange with the couple, Pol said, as the “dispute seemed rather petty” no offense was registered against anyone. The woman complained that she was not treated “as kindly by her husband as he did their son”.

This was Pol’s first case, as she joined the police station only two months ago. She was posted at the police headquarters earlier. She said, the police academy equips future cops to “handle such cases with sensitivity”.

“It is important to place yourself in the other person’s shoes while responding to such incidences. Situational awareness is also very important, and one needs to remain calm at times such as these,” she said.

“We would be in a better position to handle such situations if we could offer counselling to people affected by similar incidents,” said Pol, when HT asked her if there was any provision of counselling for mental health issues to avert such situations.

The Nirbhaya squad has been operational since January 2022 and can be reached at helpline number: 103, in cases of crimes against women such as sexual harassment, rape, acid attack and stalking. The response time for the squad to reach the spot is between five and eight minutes. There is a Nirbhaya squad in every police station.