Article Summary: Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), a human rights organization based in Srinagar, Kashmir, collected nearly 300 testimonies of pellet gun victims. This report records testimonies from 23 victims, showing how their injuries have completely transformed their lives and destroyed their futures, rendering them unemployed and impoverished. Since 2010, Indian military and paramilitary forces have fired shotguns at peaceful protestors, bystanders and people in their homes. These weapons fire cartridges containing 450-600 lead pellets with sharp edges. When fired, the cartridges burst, spraying pellets indiscriminately. While described as “non-lethal” weapons, shotgun injuries have maimed and blinded hundreds of people in Kashmir and resulted in many deaths.
Topics: background on human rights abuses in the Kashmir conflict, 2016 uprising - curfews, deaths and injuries from pellet-firing shotguns, medical testimonies on pellet injuries, attacks on reporters, attacks on reporters, human rights defenders and medical personnel and facilities, arbitrary detentions and other abuses, militarization and attacks on students and schools, relevant legal frameworks, narratives and testimonies from pellet gun victims, recommendations
Terms: maiming, blinding, partial blinding, curfews, maiming children, blinding children, fatal injuries, victims of shotgun violence (2016), Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1990) (AFSPA), excessive use of force, use of lethal force, power to kill on suspicion, Border Security Forces (BSF), 2016 killing of Burhan Wani, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Rashtriya Rifles, Indo-Tibetan Border Force
In 2016, Indian state violence in Kashmir took a heavy toll. Over 80 civilians were killed by Indian forces and more than 15,000 persons were injured. Among the injuries, 4,500 were due to pellet-firing shotguns. More than 352 civilians were partially or completely blinded by pellet-firing shotguns. The figures for pellet-injured victims continue to be revised upwards as many do not report their injuries.
Curfew was maintained for 51 days across the Valley, and even longer in some areas like Pulwama. The restrictions on freedom of movement and assembly prevented people from going to work, kept children away from school, and had a devastating impact on the economy. Protests took place almost daily despite the prohibitory orders and Indian forces responded by firing tear gas, pellet guns and live ammunition. The CRPF, an Indian paramilitary force, admitted to firing over 1.2 million pellets in just the first 32 days of the protests in 2016. A single pellet gun can hold up to four 32g Astrum cartridges in its magazine and one loaded in its chamber. Each cartridge contains 450 to 600 round, or the more intrusive sharp-edged or irregular-shaped lead pellets, which can cause serious injuries. These supposedly “non-lethal” weapons left hundreds of people maimed, injured and blinded. Pellet gun injuries also proved fatal in many cases.
First - it is grossly incorrect to call pellet shotguns “non lethal” weapons. As the case of the uprising in Kashmir is evidence of, depending on how they are used, pellet shotguns can have debilitating and fatal consequences. In September 2016, for example, a young boy in Class 7 succumbed to pellet injuries and died. As late as February 2017, there were reports of an ambulance driver who had been hit by some 200 pellets while on duty during the uprising, and finally succumbed to his injuries months later. Second – the most notorious aspect of the use of pellet-firing shotguns is their capacity for causing serious injury and disability, in particular to people’s eyes. Many children were blinded by pellet injuries. By 18 July 2016, over 150 eye injuries had been performed due to injuries from pellets. The New York Times reported that at the end of August 2016, 570 people had eye injuries in Srinagar’s main hospital alone. Reports have called attention to this aspect.
October 2019
Originally published
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