A day after the body of a young Army woman officer’s body was found hanging in her room under questionable circumstances; Defence Minister A K Antony has asked the Army to extend full cooperation to the Jammu and Kashmir police to unearth the truth .
At a hurriedly convened meeting in the South Block, the minister has made it clear to his officials that “truth must prevail”. The Army will make a special request to the Jammu and Kashmir police for a quick investigation on the alleged suicide of Capt Megha Razdan.
Capt Razdan of 113 Engineering Regiment was found hanging from a ceiling fan on Monday at her residence in Kunjawani army camp on the outskirts of Jammu.
She was married to Captain Chaitanya Bhatwadekar from the same unit four months ago. There was apparently no reason for the newly-married officer for committing suicide. Her mother had indicated that work pressure was worrying her.
According to an agency report, the J&K police did not rule out a murder angle in its probe as there are thumb prints  on her neck and stomach, wounds on her left leg and blood stains on stomach.
Sensing the seriousness, the Army has instituted a court of inquiry headed by a brigadier. Typically such probe panels are headed by colonels. The police is investigating the incident based on an FIR lodged.
The defence minister had earlier informed the Parliament that majority of the suicide cases happened due to marital discords, medical problems, depression, and property issues. Organisational factors also play crucial role, he had admitted.
The number of women officers in the armed forces continues to be negligible. While the Army has 980 women officers among its ranks, the numbers in Air Force and Navy are 570 and 160 respectively.

The total number of officers in the three services is 34,000, 10200 and 7000 respectively.
The women officers are given postings in auxiliary areas like education, engineering, signals and intelligence.
Last year, a committee comprising three service chiefs had ruled against recruiting female officers for combat jobs including posting in infantry and artillery units as well as allowing them to fly fighter planes or commanding a battleship.