Disability Rights Groups Condemn Use Of Pellet Guns, Shock Batons In Delhi Protest, Warn Of Permanent Disabilities
New Delhi: Disability rights organisations and civil society members on Thursday, July 23, issued a press release strongly condemning the alleged use of pellet guns and electric shock batons against protesters during their march to parliament in New Delhi on July 20, 2026.
Calling it a violation of constitutional rights and disability laws, the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) demanded the complete ban of such weapons, warning that such weapons are known to cause permanent disabilities.
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Citing media reports, the statement said several protesters sustained serious injuries. The statement mentioned Mr. Sheikh Irshad Manssori, 25, who reportedly suffered multiple pellet injuries to his chest, neck and face and is undergoing treatment at Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital.
Doctors at Delhi’s AIIMS are also “battling to save the vision” of 19-year-old Sahil Lochab, who was reportedly hit by pellets while waving the tricolor at Jantar Mantar.The groups expressed “particular alarm” because both pellet guns and electric shock weapons carry a high risk of irreversible harm.
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According to the statement, pellet guns have caused permanent eye injuries and blindness in the past, while electric shock weapons can lead to neurological and cardiac complications, severe psychological trauma, fractures, spinal injuries and other long-term impairments. “Weapons whose foreseeable consequence is permanent disability have no place in the policing of civilian protests,” the statement read.
The organisations also deplored the use of force against persons with disabilities who were part of the protest. They reminded the State of its “heightened obligation” to ensure the safety and dignity of disabled persons under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.Referencing the earlier deployment of pellet guns in Jammu and Kashmir, where hundreds of civilians suffered visual impairment, the groups said such weapons continue to be used against civilians despite known risks.
Reports of electric shock batons being used “only deepen these concerns,” they added. “Every pellet-induced blindness and every preventable permanent impairment is not merely an injury — it is a State-created disability,” the statement said, adding that such actions contradict constitutional guarantees of life, equality and dignity.
The signatories in the statement, include advocates Arjun Chopra, members of Citizens for Justice & Peace, NAPM and AIPSN, have put forward four demands to the Government of India and several other high profile individuals. It has demanded the government to immediately ban the use of pellet guns, electric shock batons and all other weapons capable of causing permanent disability by all police and paramilitary forces.
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It asked the government to institute an independent judicial inquiry into the police action of July 20, 2026, including the reported use of pellet guns and electric shock batons, and to identify and prosecute all personnel responsible for the use of such weapons and fix accountability throughout the chain of command, including those who authorised their deployment.
The statement also demanded the government should provide free medical treatment, rehabilitation, psychosocial support and adequate compensation to every person injured during the police action, particularly those who have suffered permanent or long-term disabilities.
