Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday constituted a seven-member expert committee to explore possible alternatives to pellet guns, amidst strong criticism against their frequent use in Jammu & Kashmir for crowd control. Besides Home Ministry Joint Secretary TVSN Prasad, who will head the team, other members of the expert committee are Atul Karwal, IG, CRPF, Srinagar, Rajeev Krishna, IG, BSF, Rajesh Kumar of J&K Police, Tushar Tripathy of Indian Ordnance Factory Board, Manjit Singh of Terminal Ballistics Research laboratory, Chandigarh and Naresh Bhatnagar of IIT, Delhi.
A Home Ministry spokesperson said the expert committee will submit its report within two months. The Home Minister had said one person died due to injuries caused by pellet guns while 53 suffered injuries in eyes. The Central Government had also sent a team of doctors to Kashmir Valley to treat youths injured due to firing by pellet guns.
DG CRPF K Durga Prasd has expressed regret for injuries caused to youths due to firing of pellet guns in the Kashmir Valley but said the force would continue to use this “least-lethal” weapon though only in “extreme” situations.