The New Delhi Metro has fallen prey to a grim shadow, as the Delhi Metro has recorded its second suicide in less than one week, at the Uttam Nagar East Metro Station. A 45-year-old man jumped in front of an imminent train, resulting in what is apparently his suicide, pointing to an increasing mental health problem and concerns at commuter safety and platform security.
The Latest Event: A battle against Depression
It was later identified that the deceased was Maharaj Singh who lived in the Karoli district of Rajasthan. Singh jumped on the tracks as a train sped toward the platform, police say. Authorities immediately took steps to retrieve the body and transport it to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) Hospital for post-mortem examination.
Investigations, however, provided a heartrending backdrop to the tragedy. Singh had been struggling with depression for several years and received psychiatric help at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, Delhi. It was cruelly that he had visited the hospital for a check-up just one day before he had the incident. Singh had visited the national capital to attend his niece's wedding.
He leaves a bereaved family behind, that includes his wife, an 18-year-old daughter, and two sons, aged 17 and 20. The Delhi Police have launched an investigation under Section 174 of the CrPC, to find out the precise circumstances leading to the action.
A Tragedy in Sequence: Case 2 in 5 Days
The Maharaj Singh situation represents the second suicide within the same five-day span at the same station. A young student also chose Uttam Nagar East Metro Station earlier this week to kill himself. In that case, a 12th-grade graduate living in Najafgarh leapt onto the tracks at about 11:07 A.M. Before he could be saved, the teen was hit by a train heading to Dwarka, according to the station controller. Initial investigations by DCP (Metro) Kushal Pal Singh also suggested the boy was having “personal issues”. He was the only child of parents; his father was a contract driver for the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).
The student attended coaching classes in Uttam Nagar to prepare for higher studies. Impact on Metro Operations and Safety Concerns. Both events resulted in a major disruption of the Blue Line, one of the busiest corridors in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) network. Services were temporarily halted as services were suspended in order to remove the remains and as forensic teams conducted investigations.
These repeated disasters have also reignited the issue of placing Platform Screen Doors (PSDs) at all high-foot-traffic stations. Now that newer lines have been installed, those lines, so to speak, prevent people from getting to the tracks, but many of the older Blue and Yellow lines are still open, leaving them vulnerable to such incidents. Mental health advocates are also calling for increased signage and help-desk presence in the metro system to help people in distress.
