While lethality and legality of pellet gun is still a matter of debate, silent and unending ordeal of victims and their families remain unheard. Saima Bhat meets some of the victim families who managed the crisis and its expenses on their own
On 13th August, at the peak of 2010 summer agitation, Sajad Ahmad Darzi, a rag picker from Pattan, became one of the first victims of newly introduced pellet gun. The next two years were like hell for Sajad and his family as the cost of treatment was enormous and hope of survival too bleak. His mother, Saleema, who is a native of Kolkata, begged on streets to manage the expenses. But despite all her struggle Sajad could not survive his injuries and died silently and un-heard on May 19, 2012.
Between June and August 2010, around 130 civilians, mostly teenagers, were killed during clashes between protesters and government forces in Kashmir. It was during those protests that government first equipped state police and CRPF with pepper gas and pellet guns. The idea was to introduce non-lethal weapons to control ‘unruly mobs’ in Kashmir. But these non-lethal weapons or pellet guns ended up taking many lives.
The data collected from Kashmir’s two main hospitals reveal that in last four years 165 people suffered serious injuries due to pellet guns. At least 12 people lost their eyesight partially or completely because of pellet injuries.
Interestingly, a PIL seeking ban on the use of pellet guns and pepper gas on civilians was dismissed by the High Court, Srinagar, on grounds that these weapons are non-lethal.
Bloodied Rivers of Kashmir 