Dehradun, June 21 -- A 30-year-old man from Haridwar, who posted a suicidal post on Instagram, was saved before he could take the extreme step, thanks to technological intervention to prevent suicides by the US-based Meta along with timely intervention by the Uttarakhand Police. The Uttarakhand police tied up with Meta in August 2022 to alert them immediately if a post related to suicide was seen on Facebook or Instagram. With Meta's help, the Uttarakhand police has so far foiled over a dozen attempts in different districts, including Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, and Dehradun. DSP (cyber crime cell), Ankush Mishra, who is the nodal officer of the project in Uttarakhand, said, "On June 19, Meta informed us via an urgent call and an email that a person from Haridwar had made a post on Instagram indicating intent to die by suicide. Two officials on duty at the cyber crime police station in Dehradun, sub inspector Mukesh Chand, and constable Nitin Ramola, shared the details with the Haridwar district control room, Haridwar Kotwali Nagar and senior police officials of the district. Upon receiving the information, a team from Haridwar police swiftly reached his house and counselled him to not take any extreme step." "Upon questioning, the person revealed that he had been severely distressed due to family issues, which led him to post about ending his life on Instagram," he said. "If someone posts about suicide (using keywords like poison, hanging, suicide) on Facebook, Instagram or any other platform owned by Meta, the algorithm by the company picks these keywords. The company official then immediately sends an alert to nodal officers of states. Based on that, we immediately share the specific details with the local police station. They subsequently approach the person and family members and counsel them," Mishra said. "I receive calls from the Meta company officials during the night at odd hours like 2-3 am due to different time zones in the US and India about tip offs regarding suicidal posts," he said....