Dismissing a public interest litigation seeking a ban on use of pellet shotguns on protesters in J&K, the High Court on Wednesday observed that security forces “have to necessarily use force in their self-defence”.
Dismissing the PIL, Justices Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Ali Mohammad Magrey observed: “Almost every day, in the guise of protests, security personnel, their camps and police stations were targeted by unruly crowds. If the protest is not peaceful and security persons are attacked by huge and violent mobs, they have to necessarily use force in their self-defence and for protecting public property.”
The two judges underlined that it was not a case where compensation was being sought or claimed for wrong doing of any security force personnel or for violating any fundamental right of any citizen. “...But for discharge of public duty by such security force personnel who were being attacked by violent mobs during that period. Since the government has discharged its obligation, nothing more needs to be done in this PIL,” they observed.
‘Misuse of guns’
The PIL was filed by the J&K High Court Bar Association in 2016, when around 4,000 protesters suffered pellet injuries and around 100 persons were blinded and seven deaths were reported due to the pellet shotgun. It called for filing cases against those who misused the pellet guns “for causing unlawful bodily injury and deprivation of eye sight”.
Having considered the matter, the court said it was of the opinion that so far as constitutional tort was concerned, the State had fulfilled its obligation in as much as they have made ex-gratia payments to most of the injured persons.
“Having regard to the ground situation prevailing, the Ministry of Home Affairs has already constituted a committee of experts for exploring other alternative to pellet guns... We are not inclined to prohibit the use of pellet guns in rare and extreme situations,” the court observed.
The court decision has come as a shock to the Kashmir-based Pellet Victim’s Association (PVA), which has been holding a campaign for banning the shotguns.
“Many youths can’t see. There was need to take strong note on the use of pellet guns. Pellet and other deadly weapons are used against unarmed civilians, including students,” a PVA spokesman said.
Talking to The Hindu, on condition of anonymity, a pellet victim from Pulwama said: “The court has failed to create any deterrence or even question the wanton use of pellet guns in Kashmir in the past. Blinding people and doling out compensation is not justice. The least the court could have done was make the security forces accountable for the large-scale injuries and fixing responsibility.”
