Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Police successfully prevented two suicide attempts in separate districts after distress videos were posted on Instagram, officials said on Friday.The incidents occurred on March 19 in Sultanpur and Kaushambi, where a 19-year-old woman and an 18-year-old youth uploaded videos indicating imminent self-harm. The alerts were flagged in real time under an ongoing mechanism between Uttar Pradesh Police and Meta Platforms, operational since 2022. According to officials, Meta immediately alerted the Social Media Centre at the DGP headquarters via email and phone after detecting the suicide-related posts. Acting on the directive of DGP Rajeev Krishna, teams traced the locations of both individuals and relayed the information to local police units without delay. In Sultanpur, police from Jaysinghpur police station reached the woman’s residence within 15 minutes. She was found in distress after consuming a rat poison solution. Officers, along with family members, administered immediate first aid and rushed her to a nearby hospital, where she was stabilised. Preliminary inquiry revealed that the woman, an intermediate pass working in a private job, was under mental stress due to a relationship dispute, as her partner’s family opposed their marriage. In Kaushambi, Manjhanpur police reached the youth’s house within 10 minutes of receiving the alert. He was intercepted before consuming poison and was counselled on the spot. “Between Jan 1, 2023, and March 15, 2026, 2,266 lives have been saved in UP by acting on similar social media alerts,” said DGP PRO Rahul Srivastava.
