Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sopore, Shabir Nawab, on Thursday issued a stern warning to social media page handlers, especially Facebook, urging them to refrain from glorifying suicide cases. He said strict legal action would be taken against those found engaged in such activities.
The SSP said the police in north Kashmir’s Sopore Police District (PD) are prepared to take decisive measures against those involved in glorifying suicide cases.
The advisory comes in the wake of a recent suicide case reported in Sopore, where a teenage girl from Harwan Tujjer (Sopore outskirts) took her own life by jumping into the River Jhelum at Jamia Bridge in the township.
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Addressing the media, SSP Nawab expressed concern over the unnecessary media coverage which he said contributes to a surge in suicide incidents in Sopore, terming it “intolerable”.
Following the suicide incident, a search operation was initiated to locate the victim’s body. Despite the efforts of local fishermen and teams from J&K Police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the body had not been recovered from the waters of Jhelum after two days.
This advisory is not the first of its kind from SSP Nawab. In a recent press briefing regarding a murder case in Zaloora village under the jurisdiction of Police Station Bomai, he directed Facebook page owners and portals to abstain from engaging in media trials. Such actions adversely impact society and the victims involved, impeding investigations at the crime scene, he said.
Senior citizens in the town have expressed concerns over the unnecessary media coverage, which they believe sensationalises the incidents and may influence the younger generation negatively.
Authorities should only allow rescue teams and authorised media to the site to prevent such locations from becoming picnic spots as witnessed in previous incidents, they said.
