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http://www.kashmirobserver.com/index.php?id=3028
Jammu, Aug 13: A jawan of Sikh Regiment committed suicide by shooting himself with his service weapon at Balra, Bhaderwah, on Monday. As many as 464 "suicide cases", including 15 attempted ones, have been reported in the armed forces since 2004 till August this year, according to figures tabled in Parliament today.
According to offical sources, he was identified Sulemaan Khan, S/o Sher Khan, resident of Malaar Kot,Punjab was posted with 152 TA (Sikh) at Balra, Bhaderwah camp.
Sources said that deceased shot himself with his Insas rifle around 8:15 am, this morning. He was on sentry duty when he committed suicide. He fired two shots at his neck and head killing himself on the spot. The body was shifted to Hospital postmortem.
According to Defence spokesman, Col Goswami told KIP that army authorities have ordered a Court of Inquiry to know the circumstances which led the solider to commit suicide.
Suicide by Naik Suleman Khan inside of his office located on the outskirts of Bederwah today morning has once again triggered a fresh round of debate, whether the worlds second largest army is really doing enough to curb and fight the menacing trend where soldiers are committing suicide and turning their guns on their colleagues, themselves and or it is simply earning a bad reputation because soldiers are finding it difficult to fine tune twin responsibilities of handling domestic as well as work pressures failing which they are taking extreme steps now more frequently.
Many now question, whether the jawans facing stress related disorders are fit enough to guard frontiers of the nation and participate in the counter insurgency operations or should medical succor be extended to them on war footing in order to provide them with the opportunity to recoup and revitalize at the earliest to arrest the constantly rising trend.
These and several other questions continue to stump many senior army officers responsible for commanding counter insurgency operations leading a pack of sick minds especially when half hearted approach has been adopted by the top army brass to address the serious issue.
A senior doctor at the military hospital in Jammu told this reporter , There are only 37 counsellors to look after a strength of 3.37 lakh soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir, raising a question mark on the utility of the counselors.
According to a senior army officer who had earlier commanded a unit in Jammu and Kashmir,that No one is really concerned about the well being of the jawan and his working conditions. His superior officers are responsible for giving him stress as they feel the pinch from their own superiors. So instead of punishing the immediate superior officer the man sitting at the top should be held accountable for every single mishap in the unit and things will fall in line.
464 'suicide cases' reported in armed forces since 2004
NEW DELHI, AUG 13 As many as 464 "suicide cases", including 15 attempted ones, have been reported in the armed forces since 2004 till August this year, with the army having the maximum number at 380, according to figures tabled in Parliament today.
While suicide cases in the Indian Air Force numbered at 71, they were the least in the Navy which only saw 13 such incidents, as per figures placed in Lok Sabha for the period 2004 to August 5 this year, by Defence Minister A K Antony.
The figures included 15 attempted cases in 2005.
Army also accounted for the highest number of fratricide incidents with as many as thirty cases of soldiers turning their guns on fellow soldiers or officers in the same period.
While the IAF had two cases of fragging, the Navy reported a clean slate with no such incidents.
According to the figures, 2006 was the worst year with as many as 126 cases being reported followed by 2004, when 118 cases were reported.
The figures revealed there were 120 "suicide cases" in 2005, including 15 attempted ones, in which the personnel were saved by timely medical attention.
The current year has also seen 70 deaths being reported due to suicide in the eight months.
Quoting studies, Antony said most cases of suicides have been reported due to stress and occurred mostly in operational areas.