Jammu (The Uttam Hindu): A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer allegedly shot himself dead on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district. Officials said that Rajnath Prasad (55), CRPF assistant sub-inspector (ASI), a resident of Bihar, allegedly shot himself in the chest inside a makeshift CRPF picket along the Tarakote route leading to Mata Vaishno Devi cave shrine in the Katra area of Reasi district. Prasad's colleagues rushed to the scene on hearing the gunshot and found him lying dead.
Police have launched inquest proceedings. The exact motive behind Prasad taking his life is yet to be ascertained, officials said. There have been incidents of suicide or fratricidal shootouts among the security forces in the past in the union territory, but these have been largely brought under control through better command and control systems. Counsellors employed to find out the reasons behind such otherwise inexplicable acts have pinpointed long hours of duty in hostile conditions, lack of recreation and entertainment and long separation from families as the main reasons for such freak actions.
Security forces are now providing periodic holidays to their personnel to join families, reducing the number of duty hours and creating recreation and entertainment facilities for deployed forces. These corrective measures together with more interaction between the jawans and the commanding officers have improved the intra-personnel relationship among the security forces. With the overall improvement in the law and order situation in J&K, the relationship between the deployed security forces and the general public has remarkably improved. There is no longer any feeling among the deployed soldiers or the security forces that they are discharging duties in a hostile environment. In fact, the security forces and the army have proved to be of great help to the civilian population in trying circumstances like natural calamities, fire incidents and medical emergencies.