Independent ballistic experts have told the BBC that injuries sustained by some Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) supporters during last week’s protest in the Indian capital were caused by pellet guns.
Warning: This story contains images some might find distressing
Central Delhi witnessed overwhelming violence on 20 July when tens of thousands of protesters tried to march to the parliament to seek education reforms and the resignation of the education minister.
Police and paramilitary personnel were seen brutally attacking the crowds with wooden sticks, batons and tear gas. Delhi Police said 60 protesters and 118 of their personnel were injured. CJP said the number of injured protesters was a lot higher than the official count.
In the days following the crackdown, the government has not confirmed media reports that pellet guns were used on protesters.
But the BBC has been able to confirm at least four cases where protesters have been treated at hospitals for wounds that experts say are caused by pellet guns.
Shotguns designed for bird hunting are sometimes referred to as pellet guns. They fire cartridges, known as “birdshot”, containing 200 to 400 small metal pellets. When used against crowds, the pellets spread out in a wide arc, striking people indiscriminately. These guns are banned in several countries.
We have spoken to two of the injured men who believe they were hit by pellet guns fired by security forces. We have also shown photographs and videos of them and a third man to two independent armament and forensic experts. A senior official at a hospital has confirmed a fourth man who also received treatment for pellet wounds.
The experts say the dozens of tiny round punctures are tell-tale signs of injuries caused by birdshot.
“The injuries depicted are definitely from a pellet gun,” UK-based ballistics forensic scientist Philip Boyce told the BBC, adding that the weapon used is “a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun”.
“These pellet injuries can actually be quite devastating, especially at close range. The injuries I see [in Delhi] are not at close range, they’re at least 50 feet. But they can actually still be devastating and potentially life-threatening even from 100 feet,” he said.
NR Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services (ARES) in UK, told the BBC that “images and video from the protests show the police using shotguns for crowd control” and photos of “injuries are strongly consistent with the use of birdshot”.
“While shotguns are a common tool in the less-lethal arsenals of many states, Indian law enforcement agencies have a long history of employing shotgun cartridges loaded with small lead pellets – known as ‘birdshot’ – in crowd-control scenarios. When loaded with birdshot cartridges, shotguns are sometimes referred to as ‘pellet guns’,” he added.
“But these pellets are not safe. They can result in life-changing or, occasionally, life-threatening injuries. They also pepper the body with toxic lead, which can sometimes be difficult to remove safely,” he said.
That’s why many countries have either banned them or restricted their usage. In the UK, Boyce says the guns are widely used for shooting birds and they’re fairly freely available. But, he’s “not aware” of any instance when they’ve been used for crowd control.
