How I ‘saved’ a man from committing suicide

I often wondered if I was capable of saving anybody’s life, and having done that I was briefly proud of the feat. Little did I know then that the Romeo who “attempted” suicide by leaping off the third floor of the Bombay high court, never really wanted to take his life.

For those who think that a day in a courtroom can be a sedative, eloping couples will never let that happen. The Romeo we’re talking about was one such.

But his lady-love, a 17-year-old delicate darling, backed out in court and said she wanted to go back to her parents. Our sensitive and emotional Romeo had not expected this. To add fuel to the fire, the girl even alleged being assaulted by him while they hid from her parents. The court felt it was in the girl’s interest to go back to her parents.

But our Romeo was not one to take this lying down. He would scale any heights to get his Juliette back and the ledge on the third floor of the building was as high as he could go.

In a jiffy, the court premises — otherwise a silence zone — was bustling with people shouting out, “Nahi, nahi”  to a man on the ledge. I too saw him from the first floor and sprinted up to the third hoping that he did not jump by then. He hadn’t. As I walked from one end of the corridor and inched closer to Romeo on the ledge, I kept saying in my mind, “Don’t jump, don’t jump...”

His hapless lawyer and parents were pleading with him to come back in but Romeo screamed, “Press ko bulao...” Finding me behind him, his lawyer told Romeo to cancel his suicide plans as the press was here. He shouted out to me from the end of the parapet, “Madam, yeh galat ho raha hai. Woh jhooth bol rahi hai. Mujhe uske bina nahi jeena hai (This is wrong. She is lying. I can’t live without her).”

All I said was, “Aap ander aajao, hum baat karenge (You come back in. We’ll talk).” His lawyer assured him, “She is a reporter. She will talk to you after you come in. The press is here.”
Romeo took a while to end the drama but stepped back in finally. The crowd waiting down clapped and many had the stunt captured on their cell phones.