Women defence personnel's suicides: The Bhopal factor

Susmita, a resident of Saket Nagar here, shot herself at Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir June 16, 2006. She was 25.

Susmita was commissioned into service only eight months before her death and was working at the Northern Command headquarters of Udhampur. She was the platoon commander of a transport company of the Army Supply Corps' 5071 battalion.

While Anjali, who hailed from Delhi, is suspected to have committed suicide because of a failed relationship with Group Captain Amit Gupta, Susmita hated the 'girlish' assignments that were given to her, says her family.

Susmita was "disillusioned with her job", says her mother Sadhana who was staying with her when she committed suicide.

"I had gone with her as she was feeling very low," says Sadhana, who had gone from Bhopal to Udhampur to accompany her daughter.

There was no formal request from Susmita to leave the service. But a few weeks before her death, she had brought up sexual harassment charges against her superiors.
Her father P.B. Chakraborthy, who used to work in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, said she had told him she hated the 'girlish' assignments given to her.

When Susmita committed suicide, neither her family nor her friends, who used to call her 'company bahadur', believed she could take such an extreme step.

Susmita was preparing for the "Young Officers' Course", conducted in Bangalore where she was due to go shortly.

The lieutenant, a gold medallist in chemistry, was counselled by a psychiatrist at the command hospital four times.

Unlike Susmita, Anjali was dismissed after a general court martial found her guilty. She was accused of embezzling funds, throwing food at a superior, insubordination, indiscipline and having demonstrated "conduct unbecoming of an officer". |

The court martial recommended in December 2005 that she be "cashiered" - stripped of her rank and discharged.

A former flying officer, Anjali was 29 when she was dismissed. After a petition by her, then Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi diluted the sentence to "dismissal".

Anjali had since then working in a private firm in Bangalore.

On way to Bangalore, she had stopped over at Bhopal to meet Amit Sep 7. She allegedly hanged herself from the ceiling fan Sep 11 at Amit's house, with whom she was in a live-in relationship for eight years.

Anjali's mother Uma alleged Sep 12 that Amit had refused to marry her daughter.