Suicides among low-ranking cops raise concern in Telangana

Hyderabad: Suicides among policemen is seemingly on the rise in Telangana. The death of Kankuri Ravishankar, on Saturday, November 2, is the fourth suicide by a Telangana police personnel in just two months.

A female officer had also attempted her own life and was rescued by her colleagues, making the total count of attempts of suicide by Telangana’s police officers to five, with four losing their lives.

A few of the incidents point towards financial difficulties and related family problems, raising concerns about lack of financial security, even after being in a ‘government job’, that is conventionally associated with job security and settled life.

Meanwhile, other recent incidents of suicide by a constable and an attempt of suicide by a female officer point towards even more serious issues like scapegoating and workplace harassment from senior officers.

The Telangana police officers also reportedly faces dire working conditions, that may lead to bigger problems for the state’s law enforcement if not addressed in an immediate away. The home ministry is headed by chief minister Revanth Reddy.

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4 Police suicides within two months

On October 13, G Srinivas, a head constable of the armed reserve (AR) police shot himself to death with his SLR service rifle, at collectorate. The suicide was committed over family disputes, according to police. The incident of his shooting himself was caught in CCTV footage.

On the same day which head constable G Srinivas took his life, in a separate incident, Bhukya Sagar, a police constable at Burgampahad police station poisoned himself to death, after capturing his death note in video, as addressed to his wife.

In the video, the deceased police officer, who was on suspension at the time of his attempt on life, alleged his senior officers to be the reason for his suspension. Sagar held two police sub-inspectors (SIs) of the police station accountable, for an alleged loss of seized contraband from the police station, for which he was allegedly scapegoated and was suspended from the service, Telangana Today reported.

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In an earlier incident that took place on September 8, Narasimha Raju, a traffic constable working for Hyderabad city police, in the Gopalapuram police station, took his life by jumping in front of a moving train at Ghatkesar. He too, reportedly died of financial difficulties in the family, according to local reports.

Another incident of a female officer, on October 9, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police, attempted suicide inside the Chilpiched police station in Medak district, in her workplace. Before attempting to end her life by hanging using her shawl, the female officer had written a suicide note accusing her senior officer and the sub-inspector of the police station, Yadagiri, of personally targeting and harassing her for a substantial time.

Lower-ranked officers work under unfavourable conditions

A visible pattern in the recent police suicides is that the victims are mostly lower-ranked police officers, who work in increasingly unfavourable conditions. Siasat.com spoke to a police officer over the concerns of the officers working on the ground, and the recent suicides among police officers in the state.

The traffic police officer who didn’t wish to be named, said that they have to work 7 days a week without a set weekoff on rotational shifts. The job risks their personal wellbeing of having a set routine, affecting their mental and personal health.

The officer told Siasat.com that the police officers who work to serve the public on the ground are deprived of multiple allowances including dearness allowance (DA). Though the government announced a new DA for Deepawali, the pending DAs are not paid, said the officer.

“The is working on an old police manual that predates independence, which has not been rewritten even after Telangana was formed,” said the police officer. He highlighted the need of mordernising the state police manual, which works as the constitution for the police force. “Even the country’s penal code has been updated with additions to modern day standards, why is the police manual stuck in the past?”, he asked.

He expressed his despair and a state of hopelessness by saying, “even if you (journalists) write 100 stories about the plight of the police officers of Telangana state, the plight of the police officers will not change.”

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The recent incidents of increase in suicides and protesting police personnel show a serious need for the home ministry of the state, headed by chief minister , to address their concerns, and provide necessary help.

The incident of communal unrest in Secunderabad, a few kilometres away from the multi-crore state Secretariat stands as a telling example of the the role of the state police in maintaining peace in challenging situations.

Last week, police constables resorted to staging protests, demanding better working conditions, while facing the risks of suspension or dismissal from the government service for which they have written and passed various PSC exams.

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The recent protests by the police constables, who were joined by their wives and family members demanding better treatment, off days, and other concerns were dealt by the state government by dismissing 10 police personnel and suspending 29 other officers.

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