Depression on the rise among Tamil Nadu cops

Though senior police officials claim that there is not much pressure on these youth regarding duty as enough manpower is available, sources told DTNext that limited resources, odd hour duties and strict rules regarding sanctioning of leaves have been a major problem among these young personnel. “While women constables from Armed Reserve face a harassment, which are mostly sexual in nature, male constables complain about odd hour duties and non-availability of leaves. Most of these constables are between the age of 22 and 25 and are not mature enough to cope with the demands of their job,” a senior police official told DTNext. As a result, depression sets in and they nurture the tendency to end their lives.

R Gopinath, who shot himself to death at the battalion camp in St Thomas Mount is the latest example. Earlier DSP Vishnupriya killed herself alleging harassment and another woman Armed Reserve constable tried to kill herself at her quarters in Egmore recently. There had been several cases of suicides by police personnel, most often due to their inability to cope with the work pressure or their inability to ‘adjust’. Sanctioning of leave always had been the main issue of contention. These constables have to work continuously on many occasions in areas  where even facilities to carry out the basic necessities are limited. “I have many times cursed my decision to join the force. I could neither participate in any of my family’s functions nor did I get time to spent with my wife. Once on special assignments, we have no idea when we will be returning to our base and the question of leaves does not even arise. This is a thankless job,” an AR policeman said.