Crowd control in Jammu and Kashmir
The security forces have multiple options for enforcing crowd control such as tear smoke shells, PAVA shells, rubber bullets fired from gas guns, plastic bullets, and pellet guns before finally resorting to opening fire with live ammunition against stone pelting protestors during violent clashes.
[5][6] In 27 years, between 1990 and 2017, insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir claimed a total of 41,000 lives (14,000 civilians, 5,000 security personnel and 22,000 militants) according to government figures made available in 2017.
[7] In February 2010, the Special Director General (SDGP) of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) N K Tripathi stated that since the militancy related activities have declined in the region, "a new form of gunless terrorism in the shape of stone-pelting has emerged in Kashmir", "It is being funded by Pakistan and its agencies through over ground workers (sympathizers of militants) and hawala channels" with an objective to disturb the peace in Kashmir and India.
He added that "There are a large number of instances of unprovoked stone-pelting by hostile mobs on CRPF that has left 1500 jawans injured and close to 400 vehicles damaged in the last one-and-a-half year" (2009–10).
Because both Pakistan and India excluded UN investigators from their territories, the report was based on public domain information and research by local and international human rights groups.
[23] The Ministry of Home Affairs set up a task force in September 2010 to recommend standard operating procedures to provide guidelines for crowd and riot control.
[24] The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) in India laid out these guidelines in their report, "Standard Operating Procedures to deal with public agitations with non-lethal measures".
[25][26] The equipment listed includes tasers, dye grenades, stink bombs, water cannons, regular tear gas shells and plastic bullets for mob dispersal.
"[29] In 2017, following the 2016–17 Kashmir unrest, the Ministry of Home Affairs set up another expert panel to review usage of pellet guns and suggest replacements.
[35][36] In December 2018, the Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) invited bids from makers and dealers for procurement of new pepper-ball launching systems and anti-riot gas masks.
[32] The Jammu and Kashmir police used pellet guns for the first time on crowds on 14 August 2010, when a mob of around 3000 people tried to overrun a Rashtriya Rifles base in Sopore.
Violent mobs numbering thousands of local residents came out in the streets on a daily basis, attacking the security forces with stones.
[49] More than 570 patients with mutilated retinas or severed optic nerves entered SMHS Hospital in Srinagar after their eyes were hit with pellets.
Dr. Natarajan and his team came to help on the request of the Adhik Kadam who is a social worker working since 1997 in Jammu and Kashmir runs a local Non Profit organization Borderless World Foundation[51] One of the youngest pellet gun victims is a 19-month-old child, Heeba Jan, who suffered injuries in 2018 when she and her mother were caught in the middle of a violent clash while escaping from tear gas near their house.
[55] In August 2016, Kashmiri doctors and medical workers wore a white gauze patch over one eye to protest the use of pellet guns and a recent killing in Srinagar.
[56] Responding to a public interest litigation in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court the CRPF stated that the "pellet guns were introduced in 2010 as an accepted weapon of riot control".
and added that "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.
"[33] A senior security official in Kashmir told The Washington Post:[53] There is an orchestrated campaign against pellet guns precisely because it is doing the work of effectively controlling the violent mob protests.
Tear-gas shells are not very effective because protesters use wet cloth to cover their eyes and are back in action in two minutes.In July 2016, Rajnath Singh, Home Minister of India, while responding to questions related to the increase in violent incidents in Kashmir, stated that a panel to study and recommend the alternatives to pellet guns would be established.
[58] In July 2016, a seven-member expert committee headed by Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer T. V. S. N. Prasad, a joint secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, looked into the alternatives to pellet guns.
[58][59] To the committee, the Indian Army advocated the mediation of crowd control with pepper guns, acoustic devices, and chili grenades.
[62] In 2018, a Border Security Force (BSF) workshop in Tekanpur Academy modified pellet guns with deflectors to minimize injuries.
[63] Since 2017, as a part of a graded response to violent protests, Indian security forces have used plastic bullets before employing pellet guns.
Following the incident, a committee was set up to decide the standard operating procedures to be followed for dispersing "unlawful assemblies with minimum force and collateral damage".
The committee's report on "the standard operating procedures to deal with public agitations with non-lethal means" stated that the effectiveness of tear gas is limited in open areas and is also determined by the wind conditions.
[67] The following month, an elderly man inside his home died of cardiac arrest during tear gas shelling in the Kulgam district.
After several rounds of internal testing to identify crowd control weapons that can avoid causing grievous injuries to protestors, the government introduced soft-nosed shells.
[69] Usage of plastic bullets is based on the list of non lethal weapons that are approved by the United Nations peacekeeping standards for crowd control.
