Ex-IPS officer, injured protesters move SC against pellet guns
New Delhi : In a significant move, Supreme Court petition has been filed by a former IPS officer and two injured protesters, demanding a ban on pellet guns for crowd control, citing violations of fundamental rights and the arbitrary nature of their use.
A Supreme Court petition seeks to ban pellet guns for crowd dispersal by law enforcement agencies.
Petitioners, including a former IPS officer and two injured individuals, argue pellet guns violate fundamental rights.
The plea highlights injuries sustained during a Cockroach Janta Party protest against NEET paper leaks in Delhi.
Petitioners contend pellet guns are unpredictable, dangerous, and do not constitute the "least amount of necessary force."
The petition also demands compensation and medical care for all victims of pellet injuries from the July 20 incident.
A petition was filed in Supreme Court by a former IPS officer and two persons, who claimed to have been injured by pellet guns fired during the recent Cockroach Janta Party-led Parliament march to protest against NEET paper leak.
The petition filed by Yashovardhan Azad, Prashant Kumar and Sheikh Irshad Mansoori through advocate Vrinda Grover, sought direction for "decommissioning or banning the use of wholly or partly metallic kinetic projectiles or pellets, fired from pump action rifles or Projectile Action Guns (PAG) for dispersal of civilian assemblies by law enforcement agencies".
Accounts Of Pellet Gun Injuries : Kumar (25), an artist, said he was present at the Sansad Chalo march on July 20 as a peaceful protester and claimed that he received pellet injuries from firing by Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel without provocation or aggression from his end.
Mansoori (26), on the other hand, said he was at Delhi's Connaught Place after attending to passport and visa-related work and had received pellet injuries from RAF firing despite there being no provocation or aggression from his end.
The Protest And Police Action : The plea said, "On July 20, 2026, during the 'Sansad Chalo' march organised by the Cockroach Janata Party as part of a protest regarding rampant paper leaks wreaking the credibility of higher education in India, the Delhi Police used the assistance of the CRPF's Rapid Action Force for crowd management.
Petitioner Nos 2 and 3 personally witnessed that around 4-4.30 pm on that day, the police and RAF personnel incessantly fired tear gas shells and resorted to lathi charge and pushed the protestors towards the inner circle of Connaught Place, New Delhi."
It further said pertinently, no water cannons were used, and no announcements were made about the impending use of force.
While the protesters were fleeing, with many raising their arms up as if in "surrender" mode, despite no provocation, RAF personnel suddenly fired pump action gun(s), releasing a wide spray of splinter-like pellets, which penetrated the bodies of Petitioner Nos 2 and 3, causing immediate pain and bleeding.
Legal Arguments Against Pellet Guns : The petitioners said the Right to Freedom of Assembly is a constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right, amenable to be curbed only through reasonable restrictions imposed pursuant to Article 19(3) of the Constitution of India.
They added that the restrictions imposed under Article 19(3), to pass the test of being a "reasonable restriction", must be demonstrably compliant with the doctrines of necessity and proportionality as laid down in various judgments of the Supreme Court. "... projectile action guns are per se unfit for dispersal of peaceful assemblies, and the petitioners contend that use of such weapons should be banned or decommissioned in deployment of security personnel when dealing with civilian assemblies," the petitioners said.
They said the sporadic and unpredictable nature of the trajectory of pellets once fired makes pellet guns an unreasonable, arbitrary and dangerous tool unfit for deployment to disperse civilian assemblies.
"The very mechanism of the pellets disqualifies them from being a legally valid option for crowd control, as it cannot be qualitatively stated to fall within the 'least amount of necessary force' at any given point of time, in view of its erratic kinetic projectile movement," the petition said.
Demands For Justice And Compensation : Besides seeking decommissioning or banning the use of pellet guns wholly or partly, the petitioners sought exemplary compensation to all victims of pellet injuries caused by the State action on July 20 in New Delhi, as well as to ensure their complete medical treatment, care and rehabilitation.
