Are pellet guns legal for crowd control in India? | Explained
Allegations emerged that pellet guns were used against a student march heading toward Parliament, prompting a preliminary verification by the force involved
The march, organised to protest examination paper leaks, saw at least two participants reportedly hospitalised with pellet-related injuries
Delhi Police denied that pellet guns were used against the marchers
The episode has reopened scrutiny of the legal basis for dispersing an unlawful assembly and the continued use of pellet guns as a "non-lethal" crowd-control weapon in mainland India
Unlawful Assembly and the Law on Dispersal (BNS Section 189; BNSS Sections 148–151)
An "unlawful assembly" is a criminal-law concept requiring five or more persons sharing a common unlawful object. Formerly defined under Section 141 of the Indian Penal Code, it is now consolidated under Section 189 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which merged what were earlier IPC Sections 141–145, 150, 151, 157 and 158 into a single provision, effective 1 July 2024. Separately, the procedure for physically dispersing such an assembly is a Criminal Procedure law matter, now governed by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.
Key Details
- BNSS Section 148 (formerly CrPC Section 129) allows an Executive Magistrate, or a police officer not below sub-inspector rank, to command an unlawful assembly to disperse using civil force
- BNSS Section 149 (formerly CrPC Section 130) permits the District Magistrate or an authorised Executive Magistrate to use armed forces to disperse the assembly if civil force is insufficient
- BNSS Section 150 (formerly CrPC Section 131) allows a commissioned officer of the armed forces to act without an Executive Magistrate only when public security is manifestly endangered and no magistrate can be reached
- BNSS Section 151 grants protection from prosecution to officials acting in good faith under these provisions
Any use of force — including "non-lethal" weapons — to disperse a march must trace back to one of these graduated legal triggers; whether a peaceful march qualifies as an "unlawful assembly" in the first place is the threshold legal question in such disputes.
Pellet Guns as a "Non-Lethal" Crowd-Control Weapon
Pellet guns are 12-bore pump-action shotguns firing cartridges packed with hundreds of small metal pellets, introduced into Indian crowd-control use in 2010, primarily by paramilitary forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir. They are officially classified as "non-lethal," though their indiscriminate spread pattern has caused blinding and fatal injuries, drawing sustained criticism from human rights bodies.
Key Details
- The standard operating procedure requires pellet guns to be fired only in extreme situations posing a serious threat to personnel, using a deflector, and aimed below the waist to limit injury severity
- A seven-member Expert Committee (headed by then-Joint Secretary T.V.S.N. Prasad), constituted by the Union Home Ministry in 2016 after the Kashmir unrest, recommended against a blanket ban but urged restricting use to the "rarest of rare" cases
- The same committee recommended PAVA (Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide) shells — a chilli-based, less-lethal ammunition — as an alternative to metal pellets
- The Supreme Court has, on separate occasions, declined to order an outright ban on pellet guns while seeking status reports from the Centre on alternatives
Because pellet guns remain officially sanctioned only for "extreme" crowd-control situations, any allegation of their use against an unarmed protest march raises the specific legal question of whether the SOP threshold was met.
The Rapid Action Force (RAF) — Institutional Mechanism
The Rapid Action Force is a specialised wing of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), established by the Union Home Ministry in December 1991 and made operational from October 1992, specifically to handle riots, communal violence and crowd-control situations requiring rapid, trained intervention distinct from ordinary policing.
Key Details
- The RAF began with five battalions in 1992, expanded to ten by 1994, and to fifteen battalions after further additions
- Personnel are trained specifically in crowd-control tactics, negotiation and the handling of non-lethal weapons, distinguishing the RAF's mandate from that of regular state police forces
- The RAF operates under the CRPF's chain of command but is typically requisitioned by state or Union Territory administrations for deployment during public-order situations
As the specialised force deployed for the march in question, allegations against the RAF invoke both its specific SOP for non-lethal weapons and the broader legal framework on dispersal of assemblies.
- BNS Section 189 (unlawful assembly) replaced IPC Sections 141–145, 150, 151, 157 and 158, effective 1 July 2024
- Unlawful assembly requires a minimum of five persons with a common unlawful object
- BNSS Sections 148–151 correspond to former CrPC Sections 129–131 on dispersal by civil force, then armed forces, with protection from prosecution for good-faith action
- Pellet guns were introduced for crowd-control use in India in 2010
- The 2016 Expert Committee on pellet gun alternatives was headed by T.V.S.N. Prasad and recommended PAVA shells as a less-lethal substitute
- The Rapid Action Force was established in December 1991 and made fully operational in October 1992 as a specialised wing of the CRPF