Uttar Pradesh cops foil college student's suicide bid in 16 minutes after Meta alert

Lucknow: A photograph of pesticide tablets and a despairing caption on Instagram could have been a young woman's final message, but for the police, who moved fast to foil her bid.

It took the police only 16 minutes between when they saw a Meta flash and saving a 20-year-old BA first-year student from a suicide attempt.

Police said the rescue was part of a bigger drive under which 1,315 people have been saved in the state since January 2023, based on alerts about suicide-related posts on Facebook and Instagram.

According to a police spokesperson, the latest such attempt came to light around 12.45 pm on August 31 when Meta sent an email alert to the state police's social media centre about an Instagram post by a student showing a packet of pesticide captioning the post with a suicidal message.

The alert was immediately escalated to senior officers, and Director General of Police (DGP) Rajiv Krishna instructed swift action, a statement said.

Using the mobile number shared by Meta, the Bareilly police traced the student's location and rushed a team to her residence in the CB Ganj Police Station area.

"Within 16 minutes of receiving the alert, Sub-Inspector and women police personnel reached the student's home, where she was found vomiting and in a distressed state," the spokesperson said.

The woman was given first aid, and when her condition improved, she told police that she had befriended a man on Instagram and was in a relationship with him.

After a fight, the man blocked her number, which sent her into depression.

The student said the pesticide he ate had been bought by her father for wheat crops, police said.

The Uttar Pradesh Police has had a system in place with Meta since 2022 to receive alerts on suicide-related posts made on Facebook and Instagram.

"From January 1, 2023, to August 25, 2025, police acted on such alerts and saved 1,315 lives," the statement said.