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Banning use of pellet guns

Banning use of pellet guns
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Kashmir is no stranger to street protests. The Valley is in the grip of a three decade old turmoil that has left thousands dead besides injuries to many others. Lot of people among the injured have been disabled for life and there seems to be no one around to espouse their cause.
One such class of people are those who have been injured and left blinded by the use of pellet guns. The use of pellet guns in Kashmir intensified during the summer 2016 unrest and since then there has been lot of debate on its use to control the angry mobs and protestors.
Pellet shotguns were termed as inaccurate by human rights groups after hundreds were injured due to their massive use during the protests after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani in 2016. Hundreds were blinded, prompting human rights groups to seek a ban on the use of pellet guns.
International human rights group Amnesty International has described the use of pellet guns as inherently inaccurate, stating in a report that the weapon that was meant to be deployed for crowd control has been responsible for blinding, killing and traumatising people.
There are around 300 people who have been affected directly by the use of pellet guns and more than a 100 people have been left blinded permanently due to the use of pellet guns. Amnesty International India has documented the cases of 88 people whose eyesight was damaged — some temporarily, some permanently – by metal pellets between 2014 and 2017. Their lives have changed entirely, and they are struggling to cope with the challenges that face them.
The issue has assumed such mammoth proportions that an organisation for the welfare of the pellet victims known as ‘Pellet Victims Welfare Trust’ has also been created and these pople have been asking the government and other agencies to roll out some welfare measures for the affected lot.
The use of pellet guns has even been brought into the notice of the apex court and the Supreme Court has now asked the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to decide within six weeks the plea seeking ban on the use of pellet guns for controlling street protests in the state.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took note of a letter dated July 4 by the Registrar General of the High Court that the matter is listed for hearing on Tuesday before a division bench.
The PIL on the issue was filed before the high court in 2016 by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association seeking stay on use of pellet guns as a large number of people had been killed or injured due to its use.
The lawyers association had approached the apex court with an appeal against the interim order of the High Court which on September 22 rejected the plea seeking a ban on use of pellet guns on the ground that the Centre had already constituted a Committee of Experts through its Memorandum dated July 26, 2016 for exploring alternatives to pellet guns.
The SC on December 14, 2016 had observed that pellet guns should not be used indiscriminately for controlling street protests in Jammu and Kashmir and be resorted to only after proper application of mind by the authorities. The use of pellet guns should of course be the last resort as the injuries by these weapons have been adding to the miseries of the people in the valley.


KV Network

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