16 die as TN reels under Jayalalithaa verdict

Police said three people hanged themselves, one AIADMK supporter committed suicide by self-immolation, one person ended his life by jumping in front of a bus and one person died after consuming poison -- after the court pronounced its verdict.
Ten others died of cardiac arrest, apparently due to shock after Jayalalithaa’s conviction, a police officer said.  Two people, including a Class 12 student, attempted self-immolation and have been hospitalised with severe burns. Another ardent AIADMK supporter chopped off his little finger in Tirupur.
Ironically, the chief minister had, in August, written a letter to a woman who attempted to kill herself after a Sri Lankan government website carried a derogatory post on Jayalalithaa. She urged the woman not to be overcome with emotion and asked her to understand that suicide is an act of cowardice.
Party leaders said the extreme reactions were a testimony to Jayalalithaa’s popularity, but called on party supporters not to take this step.

"Three people hanged themselves, one AIADMK supporter committed suicide by self-immolation, one person ended his life by jumping in front of a bus and one person died after consuming poison -- after the court pronounced its verdict"

Social welfare board chairperson and AIADMK women’s wing deputy secretary C R Saraswathi said the reactions of grief “shows the relationship people share” with Jayalalithaa. “Everyone in the state sees Amma as their mother,” she said.
More than 16,600 people killed themselves in Tamil Nadu last year -- the highest number of suicides out of all the states excepting Maharashtra.
In a state where political leaders and film stars are larger than life, it is not uncommon for people to react to a setback to a leader by committing suicide, especially by self-immolation, a
social scientist said.
Of the 16,601 cases of suicide in Tamil Nadu in 2013 more than 2,000 were by self-immolation - the most painful way to die - or 12.6% of all cases of suicide in the state, as compared to a nationwide average of 7.3%. Experts have linked the phenomenon to Tamil Nadu’s culture and literature, in which numerous stories treat fire as a cleansing spirit, a form of protest or as a statement of intent.
 (Times of India)