NEW DELHI
\nThe arrest of an Indian soldier over the killing of four others at a military base has brought into focus the issue of fratricide in the country\u2019s military and paramilitary forces.
\nFratricide, in military parlance, refers to a soldier or security personnel killing their own colleagues. Multiple studies over the last two decades have attributed fratricides and suicides in India\u2019s armed forces to stress and depression.
\nOn Monday, police in the northern border state of Punjab said they had arrested the soldier at Bathinda military base following the killing of four colleagues at the base last week. The army said the soldier had \u201cconfessed to his involvement\u201d in stealing an assault rifle and killing four colleagues, and that \u201cinitial investigations indicate that this was apparently due to personal reasons or animosity\u201d.
\nThe Indian army did not respond to a request for comment on the issue of fratricides.
\nIndia\u2019s army, navy and airforce have together lost more than 800 personnel to suicide since 2017, the defence ministry said in July 2022.
\nThe Indian military has about 1.4 million active personnel.
\nAccording to official data made public in February 2020, the junior defence minister told parliament that there were seven killed in the army between 2016 and 2020, two in the air force and none in the navy during the same period.
\nThe minister said that to prevent such cases the ministry had launched a mental health programme in 2009, which focuses on stress management, and those at high risk of combat stress are identified and counselled.
\nRetired Major-General A.P. Singh said that the Bathinda incident was not a case of accidental blue-on-blue killing.
\n\u201cInternal frustration, revenge, fear of getting caught for a misdeed and bad relations between soldiers, are some of the main reasons,\u201d Singh said.
\nA 2020 study by a serving army officer and published by the United Service Institution of India, reported a \u201csignificant increase in stress levels\u201d among army personnel in the last two decades due to operational and non-operational stressors.
\n\u201cPresently more than half of Indian Army personnel seem to be under severe stress,\u201d it said, adding long exposure to counter insurgency and counter terrorism work was a factor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI The arrest of an Indian soldier over the killing of four others at a military base has brought into focus the issue of fratricide in the country\u2019s military and paramilitary forces. Fratricide, in military parlance, refers to a soldier or security personnel killing their own colleagues. Multiple studies over the last two decades […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326738,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-326723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n