The Delhi High Court today said most members of the para-military forces are developing suicidal tendencies and attrition rate among them is alarmingly high due to archaic methods of recruitment which do not include psychological tests to ascertain the suitability of candidates.
The court made the observations while taking judicial notice of surveys which revealed that major factors behind losing para-military personnel is high stress level, poor working conditions, pathetic living, poor mental and physical well-being of the forces who are made to work in extremely difficult and sub-human working conditions.
"...The emphasis while recruitment is made is on (a) physical strength and fitness; free from medical diseases, (b) ability to exercise initiative in the work and (c) good moral character and integrity.
"But emotional maturity and ability to remain calm in emotionally-charged situations, good judgment and ability to carry a great deal of responsibility in handling different situations alone is not judged in India.
"We follow the archaic means of checking of the police dossiers and by subjecting the candidates to a physical test and a medical examination," a bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani said.
The bench said that the surveys reveal that "we are losing more para-military personnel for the above reasons rather than enemy bullets."
The court's observation were made in a judgement on the plea of a BSF constable challenging his dismissal from service by a Summary Security Force Court for resorting to indiscriminate firing and leaving the post at Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Kashmir.
The constable had claimed that he was under stress as he was not granted leave.
