The Supreme Court avoided a request by the Modi government on April to dismiss petitions filed by the J&K Bar Associations, demanding court intervention to prevent pellet gun usage in Kashmir, India.
Instead, the apex court offered to step in and ameliorate the situation in the state if the bar acted in a nonpartisan manner and came up with practical solutions to the problems affecting the people.
A three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, gave two weeks to the Bar Associations from the state to contest the Central government’s stand that military forces had no option but to use pellet guns as the “last resort” when attacked by “mobs” which resorted to violence and arson.
The attorney general (AG) had argued that the government was “conscious” of the repercussions of the use of pellet guns in the state and was continuously evolving new ways and means to bring down casualties.
This included introducing new rubber pellets which would not be as fatal. Pellet guns have led to several deaths and blindings in the troubled-state drawing criticism from human rights activists both at home and abroad.
“We don’t want people to die. We want everybody to flourish there. We want peace. Everybody wants peace,” the AG, the Modi government’s highest law officer said, urging the court to dismiss the petitions.
He also accused those with ulterior motives from across the border from fomenting trouble by hiding behind the crowds. “We are not a rogue army,” he said.
Pellet guns are used as the “last resort” when the crowd is upon the military personnel who have to fire in self-defence and any use of live ammunition in such situations will only lead to greater fatalities, he said. “We are cognisant of the situation and are constantly exploring other better means of crowd dispersal,” he said.
The standard operating procedure for use of pellet guns had also been upgraded last week, he said. Pellet guns are not being used in Jantar Mantar or peaceful type of agitations, he contended.