JOIN USAn incident of fragging in Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district where a jawan of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police turned his gun on seven of his colleagues, killing five of them, should prompt authorities to act upon problems like stress and rage that jawans are struggling with. What triggered the incident is unclear. According to initial reports, after shooting his colleagues, the jawan turned his gun on himself. However, his kin is reported to have claimed that he had a bullet injury in his back, which suggests that he was shot dead by one of the others. A probe must establish not just the sequence of events but also why the jawans turned to weapons to settle whatever issue or conflict they might have had. Bastar has borne the brunt of the Maoist insurgency. Deployment in insurgency-wracked regions is not easy especially when it is over prolonged periods. Stress levels are high, affecting the emotional, mental and physical health of people serving in these areas. Pent-up anger and stress explode into violence directed at their seniors, their colleagues or even themselves. A conflict, such as the denial of leave or being pulled up by a senior officer, even an argument among friends could push a jawan over the edge.
The nature of the job and the environment/field in which they operate makes stress inevitable among police and soldiers the world over. What makes the problem all the more serious in India is that the personnel are in stressful situations over prolonged periods, without breaks, vacations or visits home. Operational requirements and a shortage of personnel mean that jawans cannot go home to rest and recoup or deal with problems back home. A shortage at the officer level has resulted in officers having little time to attend to or even notice problems of the lower ranks. Humiliating comments and treatment meted out to the lower ranks are often cited by jawans as a reason for their anger.
Incidents of fragging in the military and paramilitary forces are the reason for serious concern. Their numbers are rising. If in the past it was among personnel serving in Kashmir that incidents of suicide and fratricide were high, now it is the Red Corridor that accounts for most such cases. Suicide more than fratricide is claiming the lives of security forces in the Maoist areas. It is estimated that around 148 security force personnel on counter-insurgency duty in Bastar committed suicide between 2007 and 2019. Apparently, there are mechanisms in place to help jawans deal with the unfair treatment meted out to them or cope with stress and other problems that they are struggling with. But are these working effectively? Clearly, they are not enough.