The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have witnessed an almost 40 per cent increase in the number of reported psychiatric cases over the past three years, data placed in the Rajya Sabha by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has revealed.
From 3,548 cases reported in 2020, the figure rose to 3,964 in 2021 and touched 4,940 in 2022, accounting for a spike by 39.23 per cent according to the Ministry’s data.
With a total of 4,858 cases during the aforementioned three years, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) topped the list followed by the Border Security Force (BSF) with 3,559 cases.
CAPFs, which function under the MHA, include the BSF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Shashtra Seema Bal, which are primarily border guarding forces, the CRPF and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which are for internal law and order duties, and the Assam Rifles which has a dual role of guarding the border with Myanmar as well as undertaking internal security duties in the north-east.
The combined strength of the CAPFs is about 10 lakh personnel. To cater to this number only 14 psychiatric doctors are available across five forces except the CISF, which has no psychiatrist on its posted strength, according to the ministry
In a written response to a question by Rajya Sabha member Rakesh Sinha, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, however, stated that no significant increase in the number of psychiatric cases in CAFPs has been noticed. “The average rate of the number of psychiatric cases has generally remained nearly the same during the last three years,” he said.—KMS
