Now Reading: SC refuses blanket ban on pellet guns, cites police advisory
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SC refuses blanket ban on pellet guns, cites police advisory
The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to impose a blanket ban on the use of pellet guns for crowd control, ruling that they cannot be banned as long as existing advisories permit…
The Story in Brief
The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to impose a blanket ban on the use of pellet guns for crowd control, ruling that they cannot be banned as long as existing advisories permit their use in exceptional circumstances. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana termed a plea seeking a complete ban 'vague' and said that to phase out pellet guns, petitioners must challenge the police regulations themselves, not just their application.
The court was hearing a plea by former IPS officer Yashovardhan Azad and two victims who suffered pellet injuries during a protest against the NEET paper leak at Jantar Mantar on July 20. The court directed the Delhi government to provide the best treatment to the injured and asked the Centre to preserve the ammunition log of the Rapid Action Force deployed that day. Senior advocate Vrinda Grover argued that metallic pellets, not rubber ones, were used against protesters, a claim the bench said it could examine on a case-by-case basis.
The Indian Opinion
The 'ban pellet guns' narrative ignores that police have lawful rules for their use in extreme situations, a fact the court rightly flagged. The real issue is not the weapon itself but whether those rules were followed, specifically, whether metallic pellets were fired when only rubber ones were permitted. The ammunition log, once produced, will settle that. Until then, calling for a blanket ban is a shortcut that avoids the harder question: did the police on that day break their own rules, and will anyone be held responsible? Watch for the log.
Source: thehansindia.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
