Net aids suicide? | Boy broadcasts suicide online

DEATH ON THE NET: From Australia to Korea, governments are cracking down on these killer websites.

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

Featured Slideshows

New Delhi: If killing yourself is the easy way out, the Net's made it easier still. Videos, photos, and detailed explanations on the different ways to take your own life are all at your fingertips.

Also available are suicide groups on sites like Facebook and Bebo. These groups comprise of people who have never met, agreeing to die together, either for fame or just for fun.

It seems as if life and death have become just an online game, but in the process, it is real people who are killing themselves.

A Psychotherapist at Fortis Hospital, Dr Samir Malhotra says, "At one level you know it's wrong. But when you get peer support, it drowns out other voices. Getting support on the Net is dangerous because you don't know who the other person is or what situation he himself is facing."

There is something called a Choking Game on the Net, which involves cutting off oxygen to the brain, to get a high.

A Mumbaite, Gaurang Dalvi died playing it last December, after learning about it from the Internet.

Delhi's GN Vinay was a regular at another site which convinced him that he would have a "cooler after life" and so he hung himself.

A random check on Orkut throws up scores of Indians with a death wish. Which of them hits the headlines next is just a matter of time.

Interestingly, cyber experts say such sites are completely illegal.

"It's my life, it's my problem" — that's what people visiting these sites would probably say. But is it? Even attempting suicide is a punishable offence in India.

Others might call this just a passing fad, but from Australia to Korea, governments are cracking down on these killer websites. It is only a matter of time before India starts.