The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the world’s largest central armed force, has recorded 10 suicides by jawans in the last 23 days across states, prompting a decision at the top levels that the supervising officer where such deaths are reported shall face repercussions in their annual performance appraisal report.
Suicides among jawans and staff of the CRPF has been an alarming issue for some years now – the force recorded 194 deaths by suicides between 2018 and 2022. The latest 10 deaths by suicide have been reported from different arms of the CRPF – the specialised wing, anti-Naxal unit CoBRA and J&K units – from places like Pulwama and Srinagar in J&K, Assam, Odisha and Jharkhand, among others. The suicides also include the death of an inspector-level official from the elite CoBRA force.
The issue has been discussed at all levels and, at the recent Chintan Shivar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, too, expressed concerns. Among the decisions taken to arrest the rising suicide rate among jawans, supervising officers will share more onus to prevent such deaths.
A senior official of the force, on condition of anonymity, told News18 that any such incident will be mentioned in the annual performance appraisal report of the supervising officer, which may dent their shot at promotions.
Alarming Numbers
As per the official data, the four-year period from 2018 to 2021 registered a worrying rise in suicides among CRPF jawans. In 2018, 36 jawans died by suicide, followed by 40 such deaths in 2019. As many as 54 deaths by suicide were recorded in the force in 2020. In 2021, 57 jawans died by suicide. The year 2022 registered a dip in suicides by jawans, but the count still stood at 43.
This year, 10 jawans died by suicide between August 12 and September 4. As per the data, 30% of the 34 deaths by suicide in the CRPF so far this year have been reported in the last 10 days.
According to senior officials, challenging situations such as anti-militancy operations, anti-Naxal operations, anti-riot duties, election duties, law and order maintenance, disaster relief, among other functions, requires jawans to always be in the active mode.
“It has come to light that most of the suicide cases in the force are attributable to reasons such as family dispute, marital discord, other personal reasons, illness etc, besides few instances where professional reasons were involved. Therefore, serious efforts have been made to ensure conducive work environment and grievance redressal to minimise suicides in the force,” a senior CRPF official told News18.
Steps Taken So Far
Buddy System: As per this system, two jawans are paired with each other to form a bond while working and staying together. Any concerning change in the behaviour of one of them is immediately noticed by the buddy and brought to the notice of seniors for help.
Chaupal System: CRPF personnel and officers hold informal discussions mirroring the chaupal chats seen in towns and villages of India, wherein they openly share what’s on their minds. Seniors and subordinates come together to hold free-wheeling interactions without the fear of stigma.
Grievance Redressal System: Grievance redressal has been made effective with easy access to supervisory officers. Leave applications and the sanctioning process has been made easier and quicker with the CRPF’s new e-leave platform on SAMBHAV app. It allows personnel to apply for leaves in one click on their smartphones. The leave sanctioning authority does the same to approve the request.
If you or someone you know needs help, call any of these helplines: Aasra (Mumbai) 022-27546669, Sneha (Chennai) 044-24640050, Sumaitri (Delhi) 011-23389090, Cooj (Goa) 0832- 2252525, Jeevan (Jamshedpur) 065-76453841, Pratheeksha (Kochi) 048-42448830, Maithri (Kochi) 0484-2540530, Roshni (Hyderabad) 040-66202000, Lifeline 033-64643267 (Kolkata)
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