'This is definitely not an act done by a sane person'

'I feel she has some mental disorder. Or, it was an act of pure revenge.'

It was a murder that shook the entire nation, that of a mother murdering her 4-year-old child.

This was a woman who studied at Harvard, a data scientist and an expert on AI.

She was among the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics, the CEO of an AI start up.

Suchana Seth went to Goa from Bengaluru where she stayed, with her son, allegedly made him drink two bottles of cough syrup and then allegedly smothered him. She then carried her dead son's body in a suitcase.

The question that haunted every conscientious person was, how could an educated woman murder her child?

Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier asked Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, the well known psychiatrist who is the founder of SNEHA, an NGO that works for the prevention of suicide, and a member of WHO's International Network for Suicide Research and Prevention, what could have driven Suchana Seth to take such an extreme step.

As a psychiatrist, how do you analyse the mind of this person, a highly qualified woman, and an achiever, murdering her son in such a gruesome way?

One of the logical explanations I have is, she is probably developing a psychological illness of paranoid disorder or psychotic depression.

In paranoid disorder, the person feels that the whole world is against her/him. She might have felt that the child was the reason for all the problems she was facing.

When a person gets such a feeling, it can drive her to do gruesome acts.

The other psychological problem that can make a person act like this is, psychotic depression.

The person may feel so depressed that she thinks life is not worth living, and doesn't want the child also to live in this world and face the horrors life can give him.

I had a very psychotically depressed father as my patient. He was so depressed that he killed his two children first and then jumped into the well to end his life. While his children died, he survived.

Such a psychological depression also can be a reason for her behaviour.

When a person has psychological illness, he or she cannot think rationally.

So, it could be psychotic depression, or it could be a psychological illness.

It was reported that she tried to kill herself too....

That's why I feel it is more likely that she suffers from psychotic depression. It might have been an unrecognised, untreated, illness.

Now to the question, how can an educated person do this, I would say, mental health issues can happen to anyone. It has nothing to do with your education or achievements.

Whether you studied at Harvard or in a corporation school, when you suffer from psychotic depression, it is a mental illness.

Let's assume she doesn't suffer from any of the psychological illness or mental disorder, then the only explanation we can think of is, it was an act of revenge.

You mean her hatred towards her husband is so much that she wanted to deny him her son by killing the child itself?

Yes. She must have felt that much hatred against her husband. Sometimes, hatred might be towards the child also.

She must have felt that they got separated only because of the child. It is also a possibility.

We do not know the reason for her separation from her husband. It must have overwhelmed her. She must have felt lonely and depressed. It must have resulted in what we call the homicide-suicide act.

She murdered her child and then tried to kill herself too.

So, the most likely explanation for the behaviour of this person is that she has an emerging psychological disorder.

What has shocked everyone is the way she planned her child's murder, and then carried his body in a suitcase. It was a pre-meditated murder and not an impulsive act...

It was not an impulsive act at all. See, she travelled from Bangalore to Goa with the child.

If you see the way she murdered her child, you will see that she didn't do it in a gruesome way.

She sedated the child so that the child was asleep when she smothered him with a cloth or a pillow.

Probably, she tried to kill herself after that but when she didn't succeed, perhaps she didn't know what to do next. Then, she must have carried him in the suitcase.

We do not know whether she wanted to try some other method to kill herself after disposing of the child's body.

You have to also understand that this kind of an act is not done by a mind that is stable. There is definitely some instability in her mind.

This is definitely not an act done by a sane person.

But we need to talk to her to find out what kind of instability she suffers from, whether it is a. mental disorder or a personality issue.

You can find that out only when you have a conversation with her.

People are surprised because they think, why does somebody who is so educated, somebody who is so successful, do such a cruel thing?

I hear many people ask the same question when a student at an IIT commit suicide.

You should understand that intelligence or academic brilliance or other achievements have nothing to do with mental disorder.

Intelligence has nothing to do with humanity too. When I was a volunteer in the refugee camps during the Bangladesh war, I had seen poor rickshaw-wallahs sharing the roti they got, while there was a professor who used to steal food from others.

Being a good human being is not necessarily tied to your education. Intelligence gives you education but unless you have the wisdom to go with it, it is of no use.

We assume that with education, a person gets wisdom. That's why we are surprised when an intelligent person does something that is very barbaric.

Whether you are educated or not, a decent human being will not commit such a barbaric crime.

That's why I say, there has to be some disorder in the brain that made her do this.

As a psychiatrist, how do you look at this person?

I would look at her as one who has some disorder of the brain, and what can we do about it.

My first question will be, is there a disorder of the brain? And if she has, I will treat it.

The second thing I will find out is, is she extremely depressed? And is this an act of depression? If I find that she has depression, I will try to find out the reasons for depression, both mentally as well as environmentally and then try to address both the issues.

If I see that these two are not the issues, the next question will be, is her act because of pure hatred? Then, I will say, she should get whatever she deserves.

IMAGE: Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar

Can we call her a psychopath?

Psychopath is a personality disorder which we call as an anti-social personality.

If she had a psychopathic disorder, it would have been noticeable even when she was an adolescent. One will not become psychopathic all of a sudden.

Had she been a psychopathic, she would not have excelled in her studies, she would not have had other accomplishments, she would not have done well in her career. She doesn't fit in with a psychopathic personality.

I feel she has some mental disorder. Or, it was an act of pure revenge.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com