The CRPF on Thursday told the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that it used 1.3 million pellets in 32 days in Kashmir to control street protests.
In response to a public interest litigation (PIL), seeking a ban on pellet guns that has left more than 400 injured in their eyes, the CRPF in its affidavit admitted that “it was difficult to follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) given the nature of protests.”
It said 3,000 pellet cartridges, around 1.3 million pellets, were fired from the pump action guns, which has come under sharp focus both from political class as well as the rights bodies.
While informing the High Court that “pellet guns were introduced in 2010 as an accepted weapon of riot control,” it said, “In case this [pellet shotgun] is withdrawn, the CRPF would have no recourse in extreme situations but to open fire with rifles, which may cause more fatalities.”
Munitions used The CRPF said it used 14 types of “less lethal and non-lethal” munitions to control crowds, including Oleoresin grenades, pepper balls, stun grenades and electric shells.
According to Inspector General, CRPF, 8,650 teargas shells were used from July 8 to August 11.”2,671 plastic pellets have been used too,” he said. The CRPF argued that weapon should be aimed below the waist “but the situation prevailing on the streets during the ongoing law and order incident is dynamic and mobile.”
Body exhumed On the directions of the Supreme Court, the body of Shabir Ahmad Mir, killed in security forces’ firing, was exhumed on Thursday for a post-mortem.
Last week, the SC called for exhumation and autopsy on the body to “ascertain cause of death.”
The police claim Mir died when security forces fired from non-lethal weapons. However, the family alleged that Deputy Superintendent of Police, Yasir Qadri, shot dead his son in the house “in a cold-blooded murder.”
(The copy has been corrected for a factual error.)
