Army jawan commits suicide
JAMMU [IoK], June 14: An Indian army jawan allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself with the hook of a ceiling fan inside the army camp in Lakhanpur area of Kathua district today.
The deceased has been identified as Lance Naik Devinder Lal c/o of RT Brigade Lakhanpur.
Police sources said that he hanged himself inside the army camp in the wee hours today.
Police has initiated inquest proceedings under section 174 CrPc.
Cause behind the provocation was not yet ascertained. [Kashmir Times]
Suicide whiff in ‘death’ of armyman
Dibrugarh, [Assam] June 12: The disappearance of Maj. Anurag Sarma, an army doctor, from the army hospital at Dinjan-based headquarters of the 2 Mountain Division, has sent shockwaves through Upper Assam.
Police claimed to have spotted suicide notes near his abandoned vehicle a stone’s throw from Oakland ghat along the Brahmaputra under Rohmoria police station in Dibrugarh.
Based on preliminary findings, the police suspect that he may have committed suicide by plunging into the river.
The body is yet to be fished out.
Dibrugarh superintendent of police, V.K. Ramisetti, said in one of the suicide notes he had requested that the vehicle be handed over to his seniors and even mentioned the name of a colonel.
“In another note, Maj. Sarma had apologised for having taken such an extreme step. He had left some notes for his friends and family. An investigation is on,” Ramisetti said.
“Unless the body is found and a post-mortem conducted, we cannot be sure that he had committed suicide. He could have been abducted,” an army source said.
Though the army remains tightlipped, sources said that stress had led Maj. Sarma to take such an extreme step. “We are yet to find out why Sarma might take such a step. We are still investigating the matter,” a senior army officer based in Dinjan, said.
The army source said Maj. Sarma drove out of Dinjan in his official vehicle last evening after duty hours.
The incident swivelled the spotlight back on a syndrome increasingly worrying army and paramilitary brass: armymen cracking under the strain of tackling militancy. This is especially true of soldiers serving in the Northeast and in Jammu and Kashmir.
Statistics placed by former defence minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament in August 2006, showed 66 soldiers committing suicides in 2002, 96 in 2003, 100 in 2004 and 71 till November 2005.
Havildar death: A CRPF havildar, Baljeet Singh, shot himself from his service rifle at Fatasil Ambari area of Guwahati at around 7.30 pm. [The Telegraph,India]
Stress blamed for high suicide, fratricide rates among Indian troops in IHK
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI, June 9: Suicide and fratricide rates in the Indian armed forces are highest among troops deployed for counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast because their jobs are “highly demanding”, says a study conducted by scientists of the Defence Institute of Psychological Research.
“We have come across around 150 factors leading to stress among the armed forces,” said institute director Dr Manas K Mandal when releasing the study report here on Saturday.
He also announced that a separate cadre of para-psychologists, like the army medical corps, would be set up. These para-psychologists will be junior commissioned officers (JCOs), specially trained in psychological and behavioural sciences to undertake counselling sessions with soldiers. “Initially, we have trained 50 JCOs in stress management in Delhi, Kolkata and Udhampur,” he said.
Asked if a reduction in troop levels in Jammu and Kashmir and other areas would decrease the suicide and fratricide trend, the Defence Ministry’s top psychologist said the “cumulative stress” resulting from the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was a major cause for soldiers resorting to extreme acts.
He said the job in these theatres was “highly demanding”. The stress could be of a personal, operational, organisational or familial kind. “Or worse, it could be a combination of all these,” said Dr Mandal, who led the scientists undertaking the study.
Mandal said most of the recommendations made by the DIPR on the issue have been accepted by the government and that a psychologist-to-soldier ratio of at least 1:1000 would be needed. Another key suggestion made by the DIPR is that a mobile team of psychologists could be created that would not remain confined to any one area.
The issue of leave for personnel also emerged as one of the key factors contributing to suicides and fratricidal killings. Mandal recommended a new selection system for ranks other than officers. Under the new system, at the selection level itself, negative traits such as short tempers would be judged using state-of-the-art methods.
Mandal said other steps would involve finding ways to improve relationships between soldiers and officers and issuance of clear guidelines that security personnel would have to follow in ambiguous occupational situations.
Statistics since 2001 indicate that the incidence of suicide in the Indian army is nine per 100,000 personnel. Though this is far below that for the country’s general population - 48 for every 100,000 - incidents of fratricidal killing are of far greater and immediate concern. During the last four years, the army over a hundred such incidents. [Daily Times]
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