CRPF: Pellet guns for extreme cases

The CRPF has expressed regret over a large number of protesters sustaining severe eye injuries in the Kashmir Valley, saying pellet guns will be used only in extreme situations.

CRPF director-general K. Durga Prasad said pellet guns were the least lethal weapons available with the security force for crowd control in the Valley.

“We feel very sorry for them as youngsters have to bear injuries due to the firing of pellet guns. We are trying to minimise its use so that there are fewer injuries. But we use them in extreme situations, when crowd control by other means fails,” Mr Prasad said.

There has been considerable criticism over the use of pellet guns during the recent violence in Kashmir, forcing even home minister Rajnath Singh to form a committee to review their use and find an alternative.

“Everybody feels bad when youngsters get hit. But still, we will have to use pellet guns in extreme situations. We hope that extreme situations do not arise in future,” the D-G added. He said the CRPF is already experimenting and looking at options under the less-lethal weapon category available globally.

While explaining the considerable stress under which the CRPF personnel were deployed in the Valley, Mr Prasad said as many as 114 companies — about 11,400 personnel — who were undergoing training elsewhere, had to be pulled out and deployed in the state to control the situation after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter.

The CRPF D-G said instructions have been given to all personnel that the pellet guns, whenever used in Kashmir, should be fired below the knee level. “The injuries have taken place as the force had to resort to firing of pellet guns when the protesters came very close and there was a possibility of loss of lives on either side,” he said.

The officer also claimed that pellet guns are used only in the Valley because in no other place in the country do protesters resort to stone-pelting on such a magnitude.

Mr Prasad said his men on the ground have to react very rationally and without getting emotionally charged in circumstances like those being witnessed in the Kashmir Valley. The CRPF is procuring 7,500 full-body protectors for use of troops deployed in crowd-control duties.

The CRPF has also decided to grant various categories of monetary aid, ranging from Rs 4,000 to Rs 1,00,000, to its personnel who receive injuries in handling volatile situations in the Valley.