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Suicide in India: A break for the despairing
印度的自殺：一場絕望的間歇
India decriminalises attempted suicide.
印度將“自殺未遂”合法化。
Gorav Gupta has spent his life helping the mentally ill.
Gorav Gupta一生致力于幫助精神疾病患者。
But when suicidal patients seek help at his psychiatric hospital in Delhi, he turns them away.
但是當有自殺患者去他在德里的精神病咨詢醫院求助時，他不接診。
Mr Gupta says he cannot handle the “legal hassle” that might ensue if they try to end their lives while in his care.
Gupta解釋說，要是他的病人在他的治療期間選擇自殺，那么他可搞不定的這個“法律上的大麻煩”。
Attempted suicide, as well as “any act towards the commission” of suicide, has for years been a crime in India.
數年來，自殺未遂及有集體自殺傾向的行為在印度都被定為犯罪。
But on March 27th, the Lok Sabha, India's lower house, passed a package of mental-health reforms, among them one that decriminalises attempted suicide.
然而，在3月27日，印度眾議院的下議院通過了精神健康的改革方案，其中一項便是自殺未遂行為合法化。
The bill declares access to psychiatric care to be a right for all Indians, and promises a huge boost in funding to help provide it.
這項法案宣布所有印度人都有機會有權利接受精神治療，并且法案還保證會大力支持這個項目。
Policymakers in India have long argued that people driven to attempt suicide need rehabilitation.
印度的決策者認為那些自殺未遂的人們是需要接受精神治療的。
But under the previous law, they faced punishment: a fine and up to a year in prison.
但是先前的法律讓這些人接受的是懲罰：受一年或一年以上的牢獄之苦。
Prosecution was rare, but the threat of it to extract bribes from the families of those who attempted suicide was not, says Soumitra Pathare, who helped draft the new legislation.
幫助起草這項法案的Soumitra Pathare說，幫助起草這項新法案的Soumitra Pathare表示，起訴雖寥寥無幾，但威脅之處在于對那些自殺未遂之人的家庭貪贓枉法的比比皆是。
Others point out that the government has previously used laws against attempted suicide to lock up activists who stage hunger strikes.
其他人指出，政府曾用自殺未遂行為的法律來制止激進分子的絕食抗議。
The next step in mental-health reform is to allocate more money and expand the workforce, says Mr Pathare.
Pathare說精神健康改革方案的下一步就是要增加撥款和擴大員工隊伍。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
