‘Punishing oneself’: Indian man slaps himself on busy road, video sparks mental health concerns

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By: Trends DeskNew Delhi | November 9, 2025 02:19 PM IST 3 min readAccording to the 2023 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, there was a 3.2 per cent rise in the number of suicides in India (Image source: @memer_mitron/X)Mental health remains one of the widely discussed topics on social media, with celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shah Rukh Khan, and others sharing their personal challenges on public platforms. As the Internet continues to gather insights on burnout and emotional stress, a video of a man, seemingly from Maharashtra, slapping himself in the middle of traffic has sparked concerns.In the now-viral video shared by Instagram handle @memer_mitro, a man on a motorcycle can be seen removing his helmet amid halted traffic and aggressively thrashing himself. He puts the helmet back on, only to remove it again and continue slapping himself.Watch here:Hardly anyone talks about men’s mental health.My friend Roger (name changed) — both his sisters lost their husbands.⁰One to COVID, another to brain fever. Both have kids.They never worked, not good with in-laws, so they stay with Roger.⁰He takes care of them and their… https://t.co/Mobktv0Vjf— Indian Christian (@iamJerusalem2) November 7, 2025The video quickly resonated with several social media users, garnering over a million views. Several users shared their stance on lack of mental health awareness among men in India. “Man need a good friend who listens and answer based on reality with comfort. Such true Friends are real and never leave a distressed friend,” a user wrote. “I was going through something like this, can’t cry in front of kids at home, can’t cry in the office, the only place I can cry was during office travel within a helmet, takes 1 hour to reach the office, that was only safe space I had. sharing it here makes me relive that pain,” another user commented.Also Read | ‘Trying to stay awake’: Karnataka bus driver watches Bigg Boss on mobile phone while driving at 80 kmph, video triggers debate“Punishing oneself to get out of emotional stress!” a third user reacted.According to the 2023 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, there was a 3.2 per cent rise in the number of suicides in India. The report also stated that suicide deaths among men were higher than among women and the LGBTQ community.Tamil Nadu saw the highest number of suicide deaths in 2023, constituting 21 per cent of all suicidal deaths due to illness in India, followed by Maharashtra, which was 12 per cent, and Karnataka at 10 per cent. © IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdTags:mental healthsocial media virals