Services lost 1,426 men in suicide, fatricide cases in 12 years

NEW DELHI: In the last 12 years, the three Services have lost 1,426 officers and men in incidents of suicides and fratricides, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

In written reply, Defence Minister A K Antony said 1,426 personnel have died in incidents of suicides and fratricides since 2000.

The reply said that the Army, the largest of the three Services, registered over 1,150 deaths due to these incidents in he 12-year time frame. It has lost 27 personnel in these incidents so far this year.

Antony said the possible reasons for the soldiers committing these acts included stress and personal and financial problems.

"The physical and mental well-being of personnel is factored in while planning deployment of personnel for counter-insurgency operations," he said.

He said the government has taken several steps to prevent such incidents including counselling, improvement in quality of food and clothing, married accommodation, facilities for movement of troops from border areas and establishing a grievance redressal mechanism in states.

Replying to another query, Antony said six defence firms including two Indian companies have been blacklisted in connection with the Ordnance Factory Board scam and have been debarred from any business dealings for a period of 10 years.