The use of less-lethal weapons to tackle agitating crowds has remained under scanner for a long and has been recorded and documented in studies, carried out by the likes of human rights watch Amnesty International and the Bureau of Police and Research Development (BPRD), India.
With at least three protestors losing eyesight due to the injuries sustained during the ongoing farm agitation, the Haryana police had come under severe criticism for using rubber bullets and tear gas shells against the agitators. The use of less-lethal weapons to tackle agitating crowds has remained under scanner for long and has been recorded and documented in studies, carried out by likes of human rights watch Amnesty International and Bureau of Police and Research Development (BPRD), India.
“My eye exploded” The Global Abuse of Kinetic Impact Projectiles (KIPs) – 2023
This research paper by Amnesty International and Omega Research Foundation last year explored the widespread, global misuse of kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs), often called rubber or plastic bullets, in the policing of public assembly. The research paper noted, “The deployment of kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs) and other types of projectiles against protesters has led to thousands of injuries across the world – including permanent disabilities, such as loss of sight in one or both eyes – and scores of deaths. In many cases KIPs have been used on peaceful protesters, to disperse crowds or as a tool of intimidation and punishment. They, along with other types of less lethal weapons, have caused lasting physical and psychological damage to individuals exercising their right of peaceful assembly. Despite these grave risks, there are no international regulations on the manufacture and trade of this equipment.” As per Amnesty International, the report is “based on research in more than 30 countries over the last five years. It documents how thousands of protesters and bystanders have been maimed and dozens killed by the often reckless and disproportionate use of less lethal law enforcement weaponry, including kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs), such as rubber bullets, as well as the firing of rubberized buckshot, and tear gas grenades aimed and fired directly at demonstrators.”
The research, as per Amnesty International, included “verified visual evidence, witness testimonies, medical reports and judicial and administrative rulings. Illustrative case studies on misuse of KIPs in Chile, Colombia, France, India, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Spain, Sudan and the USA combine Amnesty International research with peer-reviewed medical studies, research by local NGOs, UN bodies and official government reports”.
It documented the cases of 88 people whose eyesight was damaged – some temporarily, some permanently – by metal pellets fired by security personnel between 2014 and 2017 in Kashmir. The report pointed out that metal pellets, though, were not used in any other parts of India.
Amnesty International documented 125 cases of police violence in 40 states and the District of Columbia in response to Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, many involving less lethal weapons, including KIPs, often used against peaceful protestors. The report highlighted, “One protester, who was shot by a rubber bullet while attending a demonstration in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 31 May 2020 told Amnesty International: “My eye exploded from the impact of the rubber bullet and my nose moved from where it should be to below the other eye. The first night I was in the hospital they gathered up the pieces of my eye and sewed it back together. Then they moved my nose back to where it should be and reshaped it. They put in a prosthetic eye – so I can only see out of my right eye now.” A study of medical admissions during the Minneapolis protests identified 45 patients with injuries from rubber bullets, 10 with eye trauma and 16 with traumatic brain injuries.”
The report pointed out that KIPs “must never be aimed at the head, upper body or groin areas”.
BPRD study points “Haryana never used rubber bullets”
This research project study titled “Development and Testing of Effective Non-lethal Weapons/ Technologies and Tactics for Countering Public Agitation with Minimum Force ”carried out in 2012 by Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), India, through Orkash Services Pvt Ltd, New Delhi noted, “Our field visits to various states revealed that rubber bullets are listed as one of the options to tackle agitating crowd.”
The study pointed out that Haryana stated that it did not use rubber bullets at that time. “Field inputs have mentioned in many instances that there were occurrences of lethal injuries due to firing of rubber batons. Owing to this factor of lethality, the officers we interacted in the states like Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana stated that they do not resort to the use of rubber bullets.”
“Rubber bullets were used by the British in Northern Ireland as a means of riot control in 1970. Over 55,000 bullets were fired which caused numerous injuries and deaths. Consequently, in 1972, a shorter, lighter, more accurate projectile with a PVC outer layer plastic bullet was developed, and first used in the subsequent year,” cited the study, which among other things was aimed at identifying the right equipments for countering public agitation with minimum force.
The study report, which cited different references, noted, “Some doctors have asked for a ban because of this reason. For instance, Professor Michael Krausz and colleagues at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, who analyzed the medical records of 595 casualties admitted to hospital during Israeli-Arab riots in October 2000, dismissed the theory that rubber bullets are safe. They reported a substantial number of severe injuries and fatalities inflicted by use of rubber bullets when vulnerable upper-body regions such as the head, neck and upper torso were struck, and further said that this ammunition is unsafe for crowd control.”
It also cited, “Controversies over the use of plastic bullets were reported from countries like Spain as well. Since 1990, at least 25 people have reportedly lost an eye in Spain as a result of the impact of rubber bullets, six of them in Catalonia since 2009.”
It also pointed out, “The use of rubber bullets by police forces across the world has been criticized because of the significant number of injuries and deaths caused by them. Israel military’s use of “non-lethal rubber-coated bullets” resulted in death of 21 Palestinians from 2000-2008, and human rights groups referred it as the “reckless” use of these munitions”.
Farmers Protest 2.0: Key Demands Explained
Farmers from Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are launching a mega protest in the national capital of Delhi to call for a legal guarantee of MSP. The ‘Delhi Chalo’ march was announced last week to urge the Centre to accept their demands.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are holding a march to press the Centre to accept their demands, including the enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
Meanwhile opposition party leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday again attacked the Modi government, accusing the Centre of being an enemy to “poor people and farmers” as rubber bullets and tear gases were used by the police against the farmers
Security has been intensified at the Singh, Tikri and Ghazipur border in Delhi, with cement barricading, metal nails and barriers installed to restrict movement of vehicles and prevent disturbances in the national capital.
People had to cross the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana on foot as police blocked the movement of vehicles in view of a farmers’ march towards Delhi.
Mobile internet services in seven districts of Haryana shut down for another 48 hours till February 15 midnight.
Heavy traffic snarl seen on Delhi-Noida-Delhi (DND) flyway, as vehicles commute from Delhi to Noida amid heavily guarded Delhi borders in view of farmers’ protest.
India will be happy only if the farmers are prosperous and happy. One who does not understand the pain of farmers, how will he be able to understand the pain of the country?
समृद्ध सुखी होगा किसान तभी होगा खुशहाल भारत।
— Sahil S. Goyal Advocate (@SahilGoyalAdv) February 19, 2024
जो किसानों के दर्द को नही समझता वो देश के दर्द को भला क्या समझ पाएगा।#kisanektazindabaad #KisanAndolan #BorderSecurityForce pic.twitter.com/orZ8tL4zGs
Source: Indianexpress, Sabrang-Image,
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