New Delhi, February 22: It has come to light that the number of people who commit suicide over failed love affairs is larger than those who kill themselves due to the other two reasons.
At least 10 people in India end their lives daily after being let down by their lovers, where as poverty and unemployment — considered big drivers of suicides in the West — forces eight and six Indians, respectively, to commit the crime, data released by the National Crimes Records Bureau ( NCRB) for 2008 said.
A total of 3,774 people committed suicide in 2008 over matters of the heart.
Women beat men in the race of selfsacrifice as 1,912 females compared to 1,862 males ended their lives, as per the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2008 report.
West Bengal leads the league with 792 such cases. Tamil Nadu comes second with 549 love- related suicides, followed by Assam ( 396), Andhra Pradesh ( 263) and Orissa ( 212).
The National Capital registered only 63 such deaths in that year.
According to the data, 3,006 people killed themselves because of acute poverty, while unemployment and sudden economic loss or bankruptcy drove 2,080 and 2,970 people respectively to end their lives in 2008.
However, family problems and illness remained the two major drivers behind such crimes accounting for 45.7 per cent of the total ( 1,25,017) suicides that year.
While 29,777 or 23.8 per cent of the victims killed themselves because of family disturbances, 27,410 ( 21.9 per cent) committed suicide after being unable to cope with their illnesses, the NCRB data said.
Dowry dispute has been another major factor, as 3,038 people ( 2,981 women and 57 men) ended their lives in 2008.
–Agencies