Supreme Court refuses blanket ban on pellet guns

The Story in Brief

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would not impose a blanket ban on pellet guns as long as existing police regulations allow their use in exceptional circumstances for crowd control. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant told a petition seeking a complete ban that the prayer was vague and that petitioners must first challenge the police rules permitting pellet guns. The court was hearing a plea by former IPS officer Yashovardhan Azad and two victims injured by pellets during a July 20 protest at Jantar Mantar over the NEET paper leak.

The court said it was willing to examine specific incidents of misuse on a case-by-case basis. It directed the Delhi government to provide the best treatment to injured petitioners Prashant Kumar Singh and Sheikh Irshad Mansoori. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was asked to produce the standard operating procedures for crowd control. The court also ordered preservation of logs and ammunition records of the RAF unit deployed on July 20. The bench questioned the lack of protective gear for police, saying it would give them time to pause before using force.