Supreme court: Find alternatives to pellet guns

• Supreme Court asked the central government to consider using alternative means other than pellet guns for crowd-control and to deal with protesters in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Supreme Court reminded government that it is a ‘welfare state’ meant to protect all without causing harm to none.
• Supreme Court suggested using energy in the nature of microwave energy. Also, awfully smelling water can also be used to disburse the crowd.
• The centre informed the court that security personnel battle for their own lives and use these guns, at the minimum, as a means of self-defence, and at the most, to bring law and order back on the streets.

About Pellet Guns

• Pellet guns are a form of non-lethal crowd control methods used by police and military worldwide. The other popular methods are tear gas, water cannon, pepper spray, taser guns etc. Pellet guns are also popular in hunting and pest control.
• Pellets guns are intended to injure individuals and cause pain. They are effective over short ranges up to 500 yards but when fired from close quarters can be lethal, particularly when sensitive parts like eyes are hit. Pellets can penetrate soft tissues.
• A cartridge of a pellet gun contains few hundred pellets made of Lead. Pellets can be of various shapes either like ball bearings or irregular. When fired, the cartridge disperses few hundred pellets over few hundred metres depending on the type.
• Pellet guns are manufactured at the Ordinance Factory, Ishapore.
• These guns are used in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas but they are mostly used in the Kashmir Valley.
• Pellets are graded from 5 to 12 depending on their range and velocity, with 5 being the most dangerous. Number 9 is preferred to control crowds, but police often use the stronger numbers 6 or 7 in the villages.
• In 2016, 1022 CRPF personnel were injured. Of this 956 were injured in pelting of stones in the Valley between July 8-16 during the unrest. For the rest of the year from January 1 to July 7, 22 were injured in pelting of stones and 44 injured in grenade blasts.

Analysis:

• The idea was to stop using regular rifles, which lead to much heavier casualties, and to instead use a weapon with limited force. But there are some limitations of the pellet gun in terms of the human damage.
• These pellets bullets are non-lethal but it make sensitive organs especially eyes vulnerable; once a pellet strikes the eye, it damages it significantly or entirely, and often causes blindness.
• These guns are used for riot control in other parts of the world, including the United States, Israel, Bolivia, Egypt, Canada and South Africa.
• In policing protests, the police must also distinguish between persons engaging in violence and peaceful demonstrators or bystanders. Any force used should be only against those acting violently, and the police should always ensure that uninvolved persons are protected from injury. When the police are trying to contain violent persons, it is important that they focus any use of force accurately at those individuals. However, pellet guns cannot ensure well-targeted shots and risk causing serious injury, including to bystanders or other protesters not engaging in violence. These risks are almost impossible to control.
• These bullets are called as necessary evil by security forces. But to control violent mob which usually indulge in stone pelting, destruction of public property , such kind of measures are required with maximum restrain.

By: Vishal