Suicides in the Army: No sign of getting abated

Nearly 400 Indian soldiers committed suicide in the last three and half years notwithstanding the welfare measures introduced by the three services to relive the troops of the mental stress, accumulated over the years.

The numbers are the highest in the Army where 104 soldiers committed suicides in 2016, followed by 78 in 2015 and 84 in 2014. The maximum casualty happened among the ordinary soldiers with 282 recorded suicide cases till July 31, the defence ministry informed the Parliament on Tuesday.

In comparison, only 9 officers and 19 junior commissioned officers of the Indian Army committed suicide in the same period.

The number of fratricide, however, remains low compared to the sharp rise a decade ago. There were only 11 such cases since 2014 in which a soldier killed a fellow soldier, Subhash Bhamre, the minister of state for defence said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The last fratricide incident happened on July 17 when an officer from 8 Rashtriya Rifles was killed by a jawan after an altercation at one of the forward posts in the Uri sector in Jammu and Kashmir.

Bhamre said the Defence Institute of Psychological Research conducted various studies on suicides and fratricides and their findings highlighted the need for the introduction of stress busting measures in the forces.

The field level commanders have been sensitised on the psychological aspects of troop management and an elaborate mental health programme is being implemented in major stations.

The suicide and fratricide numbers are far less in the other two services. While there are only 12 suicide cases in the Navy (till March 10, 2017) since 2014, the IAF recorded 60 suicide and two fratricide cases in the same period.