Army jawan commits suicide, second in two weeks

New Delhi: Bhoop Singh, a jawan belonging to the 72 Armoured Regiment, today committed suicide at Hisar, in Haryana. The jawan hung himself from a fan; he was staying with his family.

This is the second reported suicide of a jawan in two weeks. It incidentally is also the second from the same unit.

On May 8, 2012, another jawan named Vijay Kumar - also of the 72 Armoured Regiment - had hung himself during an exercise. The regiment is one of the Army's main Strike Corps.

This month, officers and jawans in 16 Cavalry Unit deployed at Samba (J&K) were engaged in a stand-off after the suicide of a jawan named Arun V, hailing from Thiruvananthapuram, allegedly after being denied leave.

In the last one year, there have also been three separate incidents of stand-off between officers and jawans at different places.

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Several officers, including the Commanding Officer, and jawans were injured during violent clashes in May at an artillery unit in Nyoma in eastern Ladakh.

Another incident took place at 45 Cavalry Unit in Gurdaspur where officers and jawans clashed with each other after a training session.

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The suicide and subsequent face off between the men and officers raises serious questions about the command and control mechanism - a critical aspect in any  fighting force.

(With Agency inputs)

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