Family issues, not terrorists, biggest killer of our paramilitary

Recently at the Kempegowda International Airport, a 29-year-old Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) constable Suresh Vijay Gaekwad committed suicide using his service gun. Within one week, this is the second incident involving CISF constable and their service guns that raise various questions including work condition as well as mental health of the jawans. 

After the preliminary investigation of Gaekwad’s suicide, police revealed that family dispute can be a possible reason for taking this extreme measure. According to police, the jawan went to his native place two weeks ago for attending court hearing of his divorce case. This could be the possible reason for committing suicide. 

However, according to his CISF colleagues work-related stress forced Gaekwad to kill himself. Irrespective of the work-related stress highlighted in many recent videos, family trouble is causing some serious trouble in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). 

Also READ: What is pushing CISF jawans to murder?

The CAPF comprises of Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Security Guard (NSG), and Assam Rifles (AR). According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report of 2015, 60 personnel from these forces committed suicide in that year.
 

Out of these 60, the number of suicides due to family issues is 27 leaving aside marriage-related issues and financial debts.  The second leading cause of suicide was financial problems and indebtedness with 12 deaths. However, according to this data, service-related suicides are not a common occurrence. 

To sum up, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) clearly proves that family-related issues are a predominant factor behind jawans committing suicide. To add to this, service-related difficulties are causing havoc in the paramilitary of India. 

• CISF
• Paramilitary
• Indian army