A 29-year-old Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan hailing from Assam allegedly shot himself dead while on duty at a border outpost in West Champaran district along the Indo-Nepal border on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

The incident took place at Senwaria border outpost and the deceased has been identified as Rajkumar Chaudhary, a native of Kamarbasti village under Tezpur police station in Sonitpur district of Assam.

The jawan was posted with the 47th battalion of the SSB and was on guard duty at the time of the incident. His colleagues ran up to him after hearing the sound of firing and found him lying in a pool of blood. He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.

“Chaudhary shot himself in the head with his service weapon, which was an automatic rifle. The local police are investigating the matter. The post-mortem has been conducted. We have embalmed his body and sent it to his native place via an aircraft,” the 47th battalion’s second-in-command Anendra Mani told The Telegraph.

Mani said that an inquiry into the possible reasons behind the suicide was also going on.

Transgenders safety push in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has asked colleges and universities to initiate steps for the safety of transgenders on campuses.

The directive has been issued in tune with the orders of the National Human Rights Commission. In a letter to the educational institutes, the higher education department said: “Monitoring committee cells should be formed at educational institutions to address the issue of prejudices, discriminations, sexual abuse and other violence against the transgender persons.”

It added: “To provide gender-neutral facilities, all the educational institutes should take steps for the construction of unisex toilets and restrooms.”

Subhashish Mohanty