New Delhi: The Rapid Action Force (RAF) had resorted to firing the Anti-Riot Gun (ARG) and two rounds of plastic pellets at the protesters during the ‘Sansad Chalo’ march on 20 July on the order of an IPS officer in Delhi Police, a diary entry recorded at the Parliament Street police station and accessed by ThePrint shows.
According to police sources, the Deputy Commander of the RAF was in charge of the unit that used the ARG to fire the pellets. Sources said it was a standalone instance of an anti-riot gun being used.
“Internal inquiry also revealed that it was at only one spot—Connaught Place—where the pellets were opened and two rounds were fired by the same personnel on the orders of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, who was posted in the area for crowd control,” a source said.
According to the diary entry, 55 non-electrical shells, 15 electrical shells, 5 tear smoke grenades, two ARGs, two ballistic cartridges and two plastic pellets were used to control the crowd during the Cockroach Janata Party-led protest. The DCP, not posted in the New Delhi district under which the site of protest falls, was on law and order duties last Monday, when thousands of protestors assembled at Jantar Mantar and nearby streets to attempt a march towards Parliament.
“It is recorded that on 20/07/26, Deputy Commander visited the DO Room and reported that, while performing duty in Zone-1 (Jantar Mantar) alongside DCP in accordance with orders,” the DD entry at Parliament Street police station reads.
The Delhi Police had earlier denied use of any pellet guns in the national capital during the 20 July march. ThePrint reported that the RAF chief had pulled up the officers and personnel for the use of disproportionate force against protestors and prohibited the allotment and use of any such weapon for future use.
In the review meeting later on Wednesday, RAF Chief Seema Dhundia had informed the troops and officers on the ground that damning details of excessive force such as “deliberately knocking down” protesters and assaulting even those people who had disengaged from the agitation had come to the force leadership’s notice.
RAF Inspector General Seema Dhundhia told the personnel and officers that such “excessive use of force” is not justified and that use of any force should be done in a graded manner, according to sources.
Additionally, she apprised the boots on the ground that the force headquarters has prohibited the use of Projectile Attack Gun (PAG or pellet guns), electrical weapons, and electrical shields during their deployment in the national capital.
The development comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing a clutch of petitions concerning the use of excessive force and crackdown by the forces on protestors in Delhi.