Suicides in the CAPFs: The danger of misdiagnosing a mental health crisis

The anguish expressed by a retired CAPF officer in his recent public intervention on suicides within India’s Central Armed Police Forces is real and deeply human.

- MAJOR GENERAL RPS BHADAURIA (RETD)

Anyone who has commanded men in uniform understands the weight of losing a soldier to suicide. It is a failure that never leaves the commander, long after the uniform has been folded away. That pain deserves respect.But respect for suffering does not absolve us of the responsibility to diagnose the problem correctly. When emotion substitutes for evidence, and institutional grievance is elevated into causal explanation, we risk pursuing solutions that are symbolically satisfying but operationally ineffective. The assertion that suicides in the CAPFs are primarily driven by institutional status disparity with the Armed Forces is one such misdiagnosis.

The argument leans heavily on a pattern often cited in official inquiries: a clustering of suicides around leave periods. This observation is accurate. The interpretation attached to it is not. Leave is not merely time off; it is a psychological transition. Personnel move abruptly from highly structured, tightly controlled environments into domestic spaces where unresolved financial pressures, relationship conflicts, health crises and emotional suppression surface simultaneously. This transition effect has been documented across militaries and paramilitary forces globally, including those that enjoy the highest pay, prestige and societal standing.

What is missing from the status-based explanation is comparative evidence. There is no demonstration that suicide rates among CAPF personnel during leave are higher than those in the Armed Forces, nor that forces with greater parity experience lower suicide rates. Without such comparison, attributing causation to institutional hierarchy remains speculative. Correlation alone cannot bear the weight of such a grave conclusion.