SRINAGAR – The high court in Indian Occupied Kashmir on Wednesday refused to ban the use of pellet guns in violent situations, and justified the use of “force” for crowd control.
The court said that the use of pellet guns cannot be banned in Kashmir, adding that the use of force by the security agencies was “inevitable” while dealing with protesters.
“It is manifest that so long as there is violence by unruly mobs, use of force is inevitable,’’ the court observed.
It also said, “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 persons in charge of the place (of attack).”
The court said it cannot decide whether the use of force in Kashmir was excessive in the absence of any finding from a competent authority or forum.
“The government has already constituted a committee of experts through its memorandum dated 26.07.2016 for exploring other alternatives to pellet guns… we are not inclined to prohibit the use of pellet guns in rare and extreme situations before the filing of a report by the expert committee or (the notification of a) decision taken at the government level,” the judgment read.
