Reports of the deployment of pellet guns against protesters in New Delhi, India, have surfaced as protests demanding India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation entered day four. Demonstrators under the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) banner faced police force, including baton-charges and tear gas, alongside evidence of the use of pellet guns.
Delhi Police has rejected reports regarding the deployment of weapons. The department posted on X, “Claims stating that Delhi Police forces used pellet guns against peaceful protesters yesterday are completely false and misleading. Delhi Police neither possess pellet guns nor do they use them in the ongoing protest.”
Visuals and accounts from eyewitnesses contradicted the statement from law enforcement.
Surgeons at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences operated on 19-year-old protester Sahil Lochab, a resident of Najafgarh, to remove pellets from his body. The pellets damaged the pupil in his right eye. Family members stated that doctors report a ” One percent chance” of vision returning to the eye.
Doctors at Lady Hardinge Medical College in Delhi operated on 25-year-old Shaikh Irshad Mansoori.
Surgeons extracted pellets from below his eyes and face, but left one pellet near a blood vessel in his neck. According to the reports, the institute reported that at least one individual among 80 admitted patients sustained pellet injuries, marking a known instance of pellet gun deployment on civilians in Delhi.
A reporter from an Indian magazine sustained hits to his arm and backpack during the event. A medical report documented multiple puncture wounds on the arm of the journalist. CJP spokesperson Saurav Das shared videos and photographs on X, showing injuries that protestors sustained.
Pellet guns discharge hundreds of small metal projectiles in a single shot. The projectiles penetrate skin, causing flesh trauma, eye damage, and permanent loss of sight when impact occurs on the upper body.
