Facebook alerts Delhi Police about a man’s self-harm video, gets saved just in time

A 39-year-old man who shared a live video of harming himself on Facebook was saved by the swift intervention of Delhi Police after it was alerted by a call from an office of the social media giant thousands of kilometers away in the US, officials said on Saturday.

On Thursday night, one Shohan Lal (name changed), a resident of Dwarka in West Delhi, inflicted multiple deep cuts on his hand following an altercation with neighbours. Lal works in a sweet shop and has two young children. He has been emotionally vulnerable since the death of his wife in 2016, they said. The altercation with neighbours triggered him to take the extreme step. While doing so, he live-streamed it on Facebook, a senior police officer said.