ASSIGNMENT

SHASHANK BANSAL

ROLL NO. 104

SECTION B

8/13/2016 11:05:25 AM
The use of 'non-lethal' pellet guns have resulted in extensive injuries to many people.
It is a form of non-lethal crowd control methods used by police and military
worldwide. The other popular methods are tear gas, water cannon, pepper spray,
taser guns etc. Pellet guns are also popular in hunting and pest control.
Over a hundred people are being treated for severe eye injuries, and while the police
claim that it is a "nonlethal weapon", doctors treating pellet victims say it maims a
person forever.
It was introduced by the state police in 2010 when more than 100 people were killed
during the stone-pelting protests. one cartridge of a pellet gun contains a few
hundred pellets which resemble ball bearings. They are essentially metal balls
loaded with lead, which can be fired from a firearm. Once the gun goes off, they are
sprayed in large numbers at targets, following no defined path, but travelling at
speeds high enough to penetrate soft skin tissue.
Eyes are particularly vulnerable; once a pellet strikes the eye, it damages it
significantly or entirely, and often causes blindness. Out of 117 cases, 106 surgeries
were performed in which five people lost one eye completely. Doctors remove pellets
from some patients and in most of the cases doctors not able to remove it from the
eye. Some patients make a good recovery, but in most of the cases the patients fail
to regain vision. No case has been reported so far in which the doctors successfully
restored full vision.
To stop the use of pellet guns, some societies started the campaigns in which they
shown the effect of pettet guns on the face of famous personalities. They have
shown its affect on the face of film star shahrukh khan with the help of Photoshop
software.
This campaign is not about jingoism. It is about trying to create empathy. We live in
a sad world where we have to present genuine tragedies in a creative way just to
make people pause and think for a moment,
Stone throwing does not give police the right to shoot at protestors indiscriminately.
Deadly force should only be used when it is unavoidable and proportionate to the
crowds actions.