Fratricide in Armed Forces: Army Reported 11 Cases in 7 Years

Four Indian Army jawans were killed in a firing incident at the military station in Bathinda on Wednesday morning. According to official data, the army has reported 11 fratricide cases in the last seven years. In response to a question in the Lok Sabha in 2022, minister of state for defence Ajay Bhatt had put forward data stating that two cases each of fratricide were reported by the army in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and one in 2022. Official data shows that before 2019 in fact, from 2016 to 2018, there were no cases of fratricide in the navy but one was reported in the air force. “The government has taken several steps towards stress amelioration among troops, which inter alia, include deployment of trained psychological counsellors, improvement in the quality of food and clothing, training in stress management, provision of recreational facilities, buddy system, leave concessions, approachability of seniors, facilities for movement of troops from border areas and establishing a grievance redress mechanism,” said Bhatt in a response to the Lok Sabha.