Why Madhya Pradesh police personnel are so stressed they're turning on themselves
Head constable Raj Kumar Shukla, who committed suicide at Bhind in Madhya Pradesh after an altercation with his superior over being asked to clean drains on Gandhi Jayanti, is just one of the many cases of stress that have been coming to the fore among police personnel in the state over the last few months.
A day ago, SP (north) in Bhopal Hemant Chauhan and a police inspector almost came to blows at around 1am while supervising a Durga idol immersion procession. The same day, sub divisional officer (police) of Sabalgarh in Morena district, Hemant Sisodia, committed suicide by shooting himself at his house.
Senior police officials in Bhopal suggest that the force is stretched to its limits and the impact is beginning to show. The total number of police personnel in Madhya Pradesh is about 85,000.
"It began with the farmer agitation in western MP in June. Police forces from all over the state were moved to the western part where they remained till the situation turned completely normal. From August onwards, the festival season started with Rakshabandhan, Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami, Eid and Durga Puja," said a senior official, adding that all leaves were cancelled during the period.
Diwali is round the corner and there is no respite till then, he added. "Imagine the stress that must be building up. This is being manifested in the form of arguments, fights and in extreme cases, suicides," he iterated.
The police in MP have also been talking about lack of cooperation from their counterparts in the revenue department, basically collectors and SDMs in law and order duties.
On Tuesday, a farmers' agitation in Tikamgarh turned violent after the district magistrate (DM) took hours to meet a delegation of the protesters to accept their memorandum. In the meantime, farmers waiting outside started pelting stones. Police retaliated by hurling tear gas shells and began a cane charge.
Later, pictures of the rounded-up farmers stripped to the waist at the police station went viral. The DGP had to give an explanation for the stripping. Police feel that if the DM had not taken so long in taking the farmers' memorandum, the matter would have not escalated.
In neighbouring Chhattisgarh, a BSF trooper shot himself on Thursday with his service weapon at a camp in Sukma - in the heart of the Naxalite- affected territory. Earlier in July, Shimpi Shashikant of the 226th battalion of CRPF committed suicide in the same manner at Sukma.
In May, within a week, three jawans of the CRPF - Sukhwinder Singh, Jeewan Lal and Diwakar Rao - shot themselves at their camps in Bijapur, Dhamtari and Sukma, respectively.
Police are stressed and it's beginning to show. Welfare wings in state police departments have not been able to address the problem effectively.
The solutions offered by them are in the form of yoga camps, but the larger issues such as leaves, family time and recruitment of more personnel to take the load off the existing ones have not been resolved. Fortunately for India, there have not been incidents of mass shooting and the "disturbed person" has killed himself instead. God forbid, if America turns into an inspiration on this count too.