Bengaluru: Karnataka high court has said the concerned authorities are required to examine their existing policies and take appropriate steps to strengthen mental health and welfare measures for personnel serving in the armed forces, police and other security organisations, while also ensuring safe and responsible use of firearms.Justice Suraj Govindaraj has given this direction, while quashing the proceedings against Jyoti Bai, a CISF inspector against whom a criminal case was registered after she attempted to commit suicide using a firearm in 2022, distressed by the fact that she was unable to conceive.Personnel serving in these forces are also human beings. They have families, relationships, responsibilities and personal problems. They experience grief, anxiety, financial difficulties, marital discord, illness in the family and other difficulties common to human life. Wearing a uniform or undergoing rigorous training does not make them immune to such problems, the judge noted.Jyoti Bai was 36 years old and was working at New Mangalore Port when she attempted to end her life by firing one round from a 9mm pistol at her abdomen around 6.10 am. She got seriously injured and had to spend Rs 5 lakh from her own pocket for treatment. She was punished with a major penalty of reduction of one stage of pay for a lifetime and no promotion for the next five years. A case under IPC Section 309 was also registered against her. She approached the trial court seeking discharge, invoking section 115 of the Mental Health Care Act 2017, ie, presumption of severe stress in case of attempt to commit suicide.However, on Dec 26, 2024, the trial court rejected her plea, forcing her to move the high court.Justice Govindaraj noted the magistrate was also required to independently consider the statutory presumption under Section 115 of the MHC Act, while deciding an application for discharge. The petitioner was married in 2015 and had been unable to conceive for several years. She underwent IVF treatment between 2020 and 2022. Despite these efforts, she was unsuccessful. The fact that she directed the firearm at herself, and specifically at the part of her body which she associated with her infertility, is a circumstance consistent with the statutory presumption of severe stress under Section 115, the judge elaborated in his order passed on Nov 12, while allowing Jyoti Bai’s petition.
