HC dismisses plea seeking ban on use of pellet guns in J&K

PLEA WAS FILED IN THE WAKE OF PELLET INJURIES TO PEOPLE IN THE PROTESTS THAT ERUPTED AFTER HIZB COMMANDER BURHAN WANI’S KILLING

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir high court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking ban on the use of pellet guns for crowd control in J&K citing an earlier order saying that force was inevitable as long as there was violence by mobs.

The division bench comprising Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur dismissed the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association 2016 plea that also sought prosecution of security forces for use of pellet guns on protesters and compensation to the injured.

The plea was filed in the wake of pellet injuries to hundreds of people in the protests that erupted after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces. Quoting the reasons, the court mentioned that it has already “recorded a finding in its order dated 21.09.2016”. In its September 2016 order, the court had observed that ‘so long as there is violence by unruly mobs, use of force is inevitable’.

“What kind of force has to be used at the relevant point of time or in a given situation/place has to be decided by the persons in charge of the place where the attack is happening,” it had said. The court had taken note of the ground situation and the fact that the ministry of home affairs had constituted an expert committee in August 2016 for exploring other alternative to pellet guns.

“We are not inclined to prohibit the use of pellet guns “in rare and extreme situations” before an expert committee submits its report and a decision is taken at the government level,” the court had said.