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Suicides: panel raps Defence Ministry

Special Correspondent

Terms steps enumerated as “absolutely misleading” and “just on paper”

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has criticised the Defence Ministry for not taking adequate steps to check suicides and fratricide in the armed forces.

Terming the steps enumerated by the Ministry to check suicides and curb stress as “absolutely misleading” and “just on paper”, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, in a report tabled in Parliament on Friday, said: “Had these measures been taken in true spirit, the stress level would have definitely come down and the [suicide] figures must have been otherwise.” Last year, over 120 defence personnel committed suicide and the figure this year has crossed 70.

The panel called for the early enactment of the Armed Forces Tribunal Bill that was pending for the past two years to provide a fair and quick mechanism to deal with problems.

It also noted the absence of a “judicious set-up” in the armed forces, where personal complaints could be handled through interaction with civil authorities, as most of the suicide cases appeared to be due to social, criminal or civil cases pending against defence personnel.

The panel’s observations come days before Defence Minister A.K. Antony is scheduled to unveil a new set of measures to ease the living conditions of soldiers posted in forward locations.

Free travel warrant

The Government has already removed the distance on free travel warrant to the armed forces personnel and decided to give two instead of one free travel warrant annually to soldiers posted in counter-insurgency theatres and high altitude areas. It has also hiked the allowances for those serving in extremely high altitude areas.

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