Hyderabad: The death of four Army jawans during an incident of fratricide at the Bathinda Military Station on Wednesday has shaken the Indian Army. In an official statement, Bathinda's Senior Superintendent of Police, Gulneet Singh Khurana said it is not a terror incident, terming it as a 'fratricidal issue'. Here is an account of similar incidents of fratricide in the Indian Army.
Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir - July 15, 2022: Two Army men were killed and two others were injured in a fratricide incident in an Army camp at Surankote in the border district of Poonch. An army official said an altercation took place between some soldiers stationed at 156 Territorial Army camp around 5.30 am, and in a fit of anger, one of the soldiers fired on three of his colleagues. The soldier later shot himself dead using his own service rifle.
Pathankot, Punjab- June 27, 2022: In an incident of fratricide, an Indian Army jawan opened indiscriminate fire from his service weapon and killed two of his colleagues early morning in the Mirthal cantonment of Punjab's Pathankot district.
Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir - September 20, 2021: An Army soldier was shot dead by his colleague following an argument during a patrol in the Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir. A defence spokesman said the incident took place at Lassipura village in the Kupwara district this afternoon.
Punjab- September 17, 2018: A soldier of Sikh Regiment shot dead two fellow soldiers before shooting himself in the cantonment area here. Jasbir Singh, who was on duty from 2 am to 6 am in the officers' mess, came to the barracks with his service rifle and started firing at his two colleagues who were about to sleep.
Jammu and Kashmir - May 25, 2014: On May 25, a soldier from the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry in Poonch shot t wo of his colleagues and then killed himself, allegedly after an argument.
Jammu and Kashmir - April 27, 2014: In Jammu and Kashmir, an army soldier killed five colleagues before committing suicide.
According to defence ministry figures, there were at least 83 cases of fratricide in the army, navy and air force between 2000 and 2012. Nine cases of fratricide occurred in the armed forces between 2015 and January 2020, according to data shared by the government.
Though the chief reasons for such cases of fratricides can be many, the defence ministry had told parliament in 2015 that “stress and personal/financial problems could be the triggers for such killing.” Experts and counsellors working towards addressing the psycho-social problems among the armed forces deployed in the state point to stress, separation from families, long duty hours and poor command and control structures as contributing factors.
According to a study published by the tri-services think tank United Service Institution of India (USI), the major organisational causes of stress amongst Army officers include inadequacies in the quality of leadership, overburdened commitments, inadequate resources, frequent dislocations, lack of fairness and transparency in postings and promotions, insufficient accommodation and non-grant of leave.
The defence ministry, while taking serious note of the increase in the number of fratricides and suicide cases among the armed forces, had constituted an expert group of psychiatrists under the Defence Institute of Psychological Research in order to suggest remedial measures to prevent suicide and fratricide incidents.
On the eve of the Army Medical Corps’ Foundation Day on December 29, 2006, then Vice Admiral V.K. Singh, director general of the Armed Forces Medical Service, had proposed a plan to recruit “400 psychiatrists of officer rank to cope with the stress that has led to an increase in fratricidal killings and suicides.”
Now, better man-management techniques are being adopted to counter the problem. In 2007 even sentenced two jawans to death for killing their officers in "cold blood" to send a message down the ranks. The incidents of fratricides have reduced in recent times.
