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On February 13, Havildar Sanjay Kumar of the Central Reserve Police Force opened fire on his colleagues at a camp in Lamsang, Manipur, before taking his own life. A constable and a sub-inspector were killed and eight others injured.
This is only one of several incidents that reflect enormous stress under which members of the Central Armed Police Forces are operating. Over the past five years, 730 CAPF personnel have died by suicide – 134 in 2024 alone, according to data presented by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in Rajya Sabha in December.
In the same period, 47,891 personnel opted for voluntary retirement, and 7,664 resigned.
The CAPF, which is administered by the home ministry, comprises the Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo Tibetan Border Police, Sashastra Seema Bal and the Assam Riles.
In response to a question on whether attrition and poor performance were the result of long working hours, Rai wrote, “Measures have been taken to implement a transparent, rational and fair leave policy and to regulate duty hours to ensure adequate rest and leave,” wrote Rai.
The minister listed 14 measures that had been taken to improve working conditions. Transparent leave and transfer policies were at the top of the list with other initiatives such as peace postings, regular promotions and financial benefits.
These concerns and measures have also been outlined by a task force constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2021 to study suicides and fratricides among the CAPF.
In its final report to the home ministry in January 2024, the task force had highlighted service and working conditions, and personal challenges, especially related to getting leave, as the major causes of suicide and fratricide.
Among working conditions, the task force pointed out career stagnation, inadequate rest and an institutional culture that discourages personnel from seeking help as significant factors.
The task force had recommended the mental health screening of soldiers returning from leave or long-term duties, according to The Indian Express report.
The minister’s response to Parliament shows that though the government has taken the issue seriously and is working to address it, the challenge remains significant.
A long-pending issue
Concerns about the mental health of CAPF soldiers and their working conditions have been well established over the years.
For instance, a 2019 discussion paper had pointed out that CAPF personnel are deployed in hostile regions, under tremendous pressure and without adequate leave or rest. These deployments do not alternate with peace postings, said the report, though, as Rai told Parliament, the home ministry is making efforts to change this.
This could also help address a problem pointed out by the task force: that 80% of CAPF suicides occurred after personnel returned from leave, often due to unresolved family or financial issues.
Career stagnation is also a concern, points out RC Sharma, a retired commandant of the Border Security Force. In an article in Force magazine in 2020, Sharma wrote that soldiers remain at the rank of constable for 20 years though they are supposed to be promoted within eight years to head constable.
Soldiers and officials at other ranks similarly spend years, even decades waiting for promotions, Sharma noted.
On the other hand, Indian Police Service officials can join the Central Reserve Police Force directly as an Assistant Commandant and rise to the top ranks.
An acute shortage of personnel aggravates these pressures. As per official data, the Central Armed Police Forces function with a huge shortfall – 1.11 lakh vacant posts, according to data shared by the home ministry to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, said the Deccan Herald. This translates into increased work for those on active duty.
Other major factors that the task force highlighted were bullying, trauma of abuse and discrimination.
Soldiers hesitate to seek help, fearing that it will affect their promotions or label them as “unfit for duty”. An officer of the Central Reserve Police Force told The Print in 2023 that counsellors had been roped in, in line with the recommendations of the home ministry task force that examined mental health concerns among the force.
But as the task force noted, “mental health-related issues are still ‘taboos’ in the security forces”, reported The Indian Express. “The personnel hesitate to share their problems because of the fear of being mocked and taunted as weak by other colleagues.”
Will reforms work?
Some CAPF initiatives have shown promise. For instance, the Central Industrial Security Force in 2021 introduced the Mental Health Championship Programme and Project Mann focusing on peer-led counseling and early intervention. Similarly, the Indian Army in 2023 issued guidelines and launched a pilot programme to address the mental health of soldiers and their families.
They offer useful models to be expanded across the CAPF.
A starting point could be mandatory, confidential psychological checkups to ensure personnel receive timely support without fear of stigma. The task force had pointed out that stress management efforts were “haphazard, sporadic and generally not carried to their logical conclusions”.
A robust suicide prevention framework should be implemented, focusing on early identification of at-risk personnel through behavioral assessments and peer support mechanisms.
Utkarsh Yadav is a law student at Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University Lucknow.
This article first appeared on Scroll.in
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