From 2022 to January 2025, 379 Mumbai Police personnel died while serving on the force, according to RTI statistics.

Of those 379, 334 were due to cardiac ailments and other diseases, and 23 were accidental; 22 personnel died by suicide.

According to experts, the strength of the police force is insufficient to cater to the city’s growing population. The police are often deployed for political gatherings, religious festivals and other large-scale events. Although an eight-hour shift is officially mandated, it is rarely implemented. These and other factors often lead to increased stress among officers and police personnel, impacting their health.

RTI (Right to Information) activist Vihar Durve filed a request on January 14 and received the data from the Mumbai Police Headquarters. The data highlighted discrepancies between the sanctioned police strength and the actual number of personnel hired.
“Only 70% to 75% of the sanctioned posts are filled. Due to excessive workload and lack of leave, many police personnel suffer from health issues, leading to these tragic deaths,” Durve stated.

“I grew up near a police residential area, and I have seen police personnel unable to take leave even for family functions. During the Shakti Mills rape case, the Mumbai Police force was 49,000, but 27,000 officers were assigned to VIP security, leaving fewer officers available to protect ordinary citizens,” he said.

Durve urged authorities to fill all sanctioned police positions to ensure a better balance between the city’s population and the police force. “Currently, Mumbai has around 51,308 police personnel, but there is still a need for an additional 3,000 to 4,000 officers to meet the growing demands,” he said.

Rohidas Dusar, former deputy commissioner of police, in Mumbai, said there is always work pressure in the police force. “The department is trying to reduce it as much as possible, but the pressure remains. I have seen a constant lack of manpower in the police force since 1961, when I was in service,” he said.

“The population is increasing in an arithmetic way. For example, five plus five plus five plus five, while crimes are increasing geometrically, for example, five multiple five multiple five... Hence balance is never maintained,” he said.

Dusar said today home guards, Maharashtra security personnel, and others are being hired by the police. “In European countries, they maintain a balance between the population and police personnel. In Mumbai, one police personnel is responsible for more than a thousand individuals. Sometimes, an officer goes on duty at 8 am and doesn’t return even by 8 am the next day. This is the work culture in the police force. There are times when officers cannot go home for two or three days, and this situation still exists. Quality is more important than quantity. The government recruits police personnel and officers, but they must also provide proper training and resources,” Dusar added.