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Pellet guns on protesters: Government SOPs don’t allow it | LME Shorts

Two official crowd control SOPs. Neither mentions pellet guns as a crowd control measure. Then why was it used against the protestors at Jantar Mantar?

Written by : Megha Mukundan

Were pellet guns used against protesters at Delhi's Jantar Mantar despite government rules on crowd control? 

The Ministry of Home Affairs' 2010 crowd control standard operating procedure and the Delhi Police's 2022 SOP list lathis, tear gas and water cannons as non-lethal crowd control measures—but make no mention of pellet guns. 

Despite videos, eyewitness accounts, hospital records and a police diary entry pointing to the use of pellet guns, the Delhi Police has denied firing them. In this LME shorts, we examine the government's own rulebooks, the evidence from the protest, the history of pellet guns in India, and why the issue is now before the Supreme Court.