Kochi: The Supreme Court on Thursday observed that police are “empowered to use pellet guns in exceptional situations”.
Declining to impose a blanket ban on the use of pellet guns by police and paramilitary forces for crowd control, the The law enforcement agencies are empowered to deploy them in exceptideclined onal situations, the Apex Court observed while
hearing a petition filed by former Intelligence Bureau Special Director and Central Information Commissioner Yashovardhan Azad, along with two others,
The court observed that existing police rules and the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) advisory already permit the use of pellet guns only in exceptional circumstances as one step in a graded approach to force.
How can they be barred from using pellet guns if a protest, which has turned violent after being hijacked by miscreants for ulterior purposes, the court asked.
The bench said that without challenging the validity of those regulations themselves, a prayer for a complete ban was “vague.”
The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India directed the Centre to preserve the ammunition log of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) deployed at Jantar Mantar.
The court directed the BJP government in Delhi to provide adequate treatment to those injured by alleged firing of pellet guns, Times of India reported.
The court observation comes amidst
Opposition blamed the centre for violating Human Rights while handling students protests at Jantar Mantar.
The court said all injured persons during protests should be given proper treatment.
Meanwhile, a CRPF post-event analysis has said that all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and anti-riot drills were followed during the July 20 police action against anti-NEET leak protesters, which included the authorised use of “non-lethal” means like pellet gun.
While 3-5 protesters were injured by the metal pellets, 47 RAF personnel were injured, with six sustaining head injuries.
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