A 20-year-old woman, under training in the Navy for Agniveer, has allegedly died by suicide by hanging herself, as reported by news agency ANI. As per an official, the woman was under training at INS Hamla at the time of the incident. The Malvani Police has registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) and is carrying out further operations in connection with the matter, the Mumbai Police has told the news agency.
The woman is a native of Kerala and was training at INS Hamla in the Malwani area of Malad. She allegedly ended her life by hanging herself in her hostel room on Monday, news agency PTI reported. However, no suicide note has been recovered from the spot but it appears that she took the extreme measure due to personal reasons, an official told the news agency.
He added that the woman was training at the facility for 15 days after her basic training was completed.
Before this, the suicide of another Agniveer trainee, Amritpal Singh, raised a massive row over no guard or honour during his last rites. The Army in a statement had said that Singh died by a self-inflicted gunshot injury and such cases were not entitled to Military Funerals as per the extant Army Order of 1967.
"Armed Forces do not differentiate between the soldiers who joined prior to or after implementation of the Agnipath Scheme as regards entitled benefits and protocols," the Army said in an X post.
"Unfortunate instances of death arising out of suicide/self-inflicted injury, irrespective of the type of entry, are accorded due respect by the Armed Forces along with deep and enduring empathy with the family. Such cases, however, are not entitled to Military Funerals as per the extant Army Order of 1967, in vogue. Policy on the subject has been consistently followed ever since, without any discrimination," it added.
However, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann gave a compensation of Rs 1 Crore to Singh's family and said he considered him a martyr.
He said, "The army considers only those martyrs who lost their lives during combat. If some of our soldiers are patrolling in snow and lose their lives during a storm, then they are not considered martyrs... They were there on the patrol for the country... The Punjab government has made a policy of Rs. 1 Crore ex gratia. Even if someone dies of a heart attack at -40 degrees, he should be considered a martyr because he was there serving the nation. It is not necessary that he should lose his life in a bullet from the enemy... We oppose the Agniveer scheme too for this."
Singh's last rites were performed in his native village in Punjab's Mansa district.