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Document shows officer ordered pellet gun on protesters
The Hindu··29 Jul
A general diary entry filed at Parliament Street police station shows the Rapid Action Force fired an anti-riot gun with plastic pellet cartridges on the directions of a Deputy Commissioner of Police during the July 20 Cockroach Janta Party march to Parliament, days after Delhi Police had denied that pellet guns were used against protesters.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Anyone who attended the July 20 march can now see documented evidence of which official authorised force that day.
- Citizens concerned about protest policing get a clearer picture of how crowd control decisions are actually made.
- Pellet injury victims and their families gain documentary support for their ongoing Supreme Court petition.
What's Happening
- A police document shows the RAF fired an anti-riot gun with pellets on a DCP's orders during the July 20 march.
- This was the first known use of a pellet gun in the national capital against unarmed protesters.
- Two people hit by pellets, including a 19-year-old who risks losing vision, underwent hospital operations.
The Legal Fight That Followed the Pellet Injuries
- Delhi Police had earlier denied that pellet guns were used during the July 20 march to Parliament.
- Retired Intelligence Bureau official Yashovardhan Azad and two other victims moved the Supreme Court seeking a ban on such projectiles.
- The RAF's general diary entry also records 55 rounds of non-electrical shell fired that night.
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