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CRPF Rejects RTI Scrutiny, Says Pellet guns as anti-riot weapon in J&K not HR Violation

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 07:49:26 +0000

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has rejected a right to information (RTI) application filed by senior RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak to part with any information on the use of pellet guns while dealing with protesters in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) since July 2016, saying it “is not related to human rights violation.”

Image: Getty Images

The refusal follows Khadki Ordnance Factory (OFK) under the Union defence ministry rejecting a similar plea seeking to know the quantum of sale of the anti-riot weapon pellet gun used by security personnel in J&K on grounds of what OFK called “national security and commercial confidence”.

Nayak, who is with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), in his RTI application, had sought photocopies of the Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) required to be used by CRPF to disperse stone-pelting mobs in J&K and of SoPs required to be used by CRPF to disperse large assemblages of people other than stone-pelting mobs in J&K.

Filed last month, Nayak had also sought the name and postal addresses of the vendors from whom the anti-riot weapon and relevant ammunition were procured for use in J&K, and their quantity, since July 1, 2016.

Nayak had further sought information about the number of CRPF personnel who suffered injuries while conducting operations in J&K, whether they were paid ex-gratia following injuries, and also the number of those may have been promoted to higher ranks in recognition of their performance.

Claiming that the CRPF's rejection is “problematic”, Nayak, in an email alert to Counterview, says, “The SoPs developed by a government-convened expert committee after a similar period of civilian unrest in J&K in 2010 (which I obtained under the RTI Act in 2012), do not make any mention of allowing the use of pellet guns for dispersing stone pelting mobs.”

Secondly, says Nayak, since OFK stated that it did not manufacture the pellet guns, “CRPF was obviously buying them from some other manufacturer”, insisting, “As these weapons are purchased using the taxpayer's money, every citizen has the right to know from where they buy such weapons.”

Thirdly, as both the Central government and the J&K government had said several well-armed CRPF and other security personnel suffered badly at the hands of the protesters, who mostly pelted stones, Nayak says, “I sought to know the number of CRPF personnel who had suffered injuries.”

And finally, wondering how could CRPF reject information on promotions, Nayak recalls, on July 22, 2016, within two weeks of the eruption of unrest in J&K, a Board of Officers of CRPF recommended the criteria for awarding out of turn promotions to CRPF personnel who showed "extraordinary courage/displayed gallant action during fighting with anti-national/extremist elements."

Comments Nayak, “CRPF seems to think that the SoP for controlling both stone-pelting and non-stone-pelting mobs have no relationship at all to allegations of human rights violations. Despite case after case of innocent bystanders, including very young boys and girls, injured severely by pellets fired by security personnel being highlighted by the media, CRPF does not want to own up responsibility.”

He asks, “When SoPs are kept a secret, how can victim bystanders assess whether the actions taken by the CRPF personnel were excessive or not; how can they make a case for compensation and demand accountability of security personnel who caused them injury for no fault of theirs?”

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Is Terror financing still Alive despite De-monetisation?

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 12:47:51 +0000

If the Khadki Ordnance Factory (OFK) is not manufacturing the anti-riot weapon called "pellet guns, where are law enforcement agencies, particularly the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in J&K, buying these pellet guns from?

Terror financing seems to be alive despite demonetisation/remonetisation drive
The security forces are reported to have told the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that 3,000 pellet bearing cartridges and 8,650 tear gas cannisters have been used to disperse the protesters between July-August. More instances of the use of these "less lethal weapons" have been reported since then. According to recent media reports, the death toll has crossed 90. Ambulances carrying the injured also have borne the brunt of the violence. Hundreds of security force personnel have also sustained sever injuries.

Initially after the demonetisation and remonetisation drive some senior members of the establishment in Delhi proudly declared that this move had silenced the protesters who could no longer be "paid" in the old currency and that the financing of terror had been plugged. However recently, the armed forces are reported to have recovered some new currency notes from amongst the belongings of "terrorists" who reportedly shot dead during operations. This indicates, while the old currency notes have been rendered useless, the channels of fund flow are alive and kicking with the new currency notes doing the job. This is a major cause for concern. The demonetisation drive seems to have treated only the symptom and not the disease of "terror financing" itself.

As an RTI activist, I have since September 2016, trying to elicit details on the sale and the efficacy of anti-riot weapons- particularly pellet guns which have caused severe injuries to hundreds of youth in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir. I had sought information under The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) about the quantum and price of sale of pellet guns and cartridges as well reports of any studies conducted about the efficacy of such weapons and ammunition on human beings.

The RTI application originally sent to the Ordnance Factory Board Kolkata (OFB), landed up with the Khadki Ordnance Factory (OFK). Rejecting the RTI application, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), OFK, had invoked the ground of "defence interest of the State" under Section 8(1)(a) and also claimed that the information was in the nature of commercial confidence, trade secret and/or intellectual property and disclosure would adversely affect the competitive position of a third party. So I filed a first appeal against this order with the First Appellate Authority (FAA), OFK.

Now the FAA, OFK has, in his order, clearly stated that:

a) they do not hold reports of any studies regarding the efficacy of anti-riot weapons such as pellet cartridges; and

b) they do not manufacture anti-riot weapons such as pellet guns but only the ammunition used with it.

In response to the FAA's direction to disclose specifications of the pellet cartridges, the CPIO has claimed that disclosure of the sale price and the quantum of sale of pellet cartridges is not in the public interest. The CPIO merely printed out the webpages from the OFB's website regarding the specifications of the pellet cartridges and sent them to me after stamping them with a seal saying "Document issued under the RTI Act".

My first appeal and the order of the FAA as well the CPIO's reply in response to the FAA's directions are in the first 3 attachments. The RTI applications and the CPIO's rejection order apart as well as the communication regarding the transfer of my RTI application from Kolkata to Khadki are in the 4th attachment.

What is problematic with the FAA's order?
The FAA, OFK's order is problematic in many ways:

1) if the Khadki Ordnance Factory (OFK) is not manufacturing the anti-riot weapon called "pellet guns, where are law enforcement agencies, particularly the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in J&K, buying these pellet guns from?;

2) if as the manufacturing entity, OFK does not have any study reports regarding the efficacy and expected impact of pellets on human beings, how are they authorised to manufacture such ammunition and under whose orders? If there is no written record about how such ammunition will impact on the intended targets, how can any standardisation of ammunition be achieved?

OFK is a public sector enterprise which sells arms and ammunition not only to the defence forces and law enforcement agencies but also to civilians in the form of weapons for hunting, sporting and self-defence; Such a body is claiming that they do not have studies which show how such anti-riot ammunition will impact on human beings. This is indeed a very strange admission; and

3) The FAA did not bother to give any ruling on my arguments that the sale and pricing of anti-riot weapons cannot be rejected under the RTI Act under either Section 8(1)(a) or Section 8(1)(d).

What is problematic with the CPIO's response after the FAA's order?
1) While dealing with my RTI application initially, the CPIO had invoked 2 exemptions (listed above) to deny data regarding the pricing and sale of the anti-riot weapons. Realising that the claim cannot be justified, he has now argued that such disclosure will not be in the public interest. As pointed out above, the FAA did not give any ruling on this issue at all, which he should have. Instead, the CPIO is now raising a ground which is not even permitted under the RTI Act for rejecting an RTI application. According to Section 7(1) of the RTI Act, a request for information may be rejected only for reasons contained in the list of exemptions given in Sections 8 and 9. Nothing in those sections authorises a public authority to reject a request for information by holding that its disclosure not in the public interest.

If I had asked information about the manner of deployment of the anti-riot weapons or their distribution across the forces that are authorised to wield such weapons, that would not have been in the public interest to disclose. Even, then it would still have to be linked to the exemptions related to protecting the country's security or ensuring efficient operations of law enforcement agencies to reject the request.

2) The printout of the webpages that the CPIO has sent contain specifications for the 12-bore pellet cartridge that contain rubber pellets. According to several media reports officers engaged with the situation in J&K have commented that they use 9-bore cartridges. Several media reports indicate the use of metal pellets on protesters in J&K. So the information supplied by the CPIO does not match with the information emerging from the ground in J&K. So are the law enforcement agencies in J&K especially, the CRPF sourcing the 9-bore pellet cartridges also from some source other than the Khadki Ordnance Factory? The information disclosed under RTI does not clear up this mystery either.

MHA Committee report on riot control methods remains a secret
Soon after the media reported instances of numerous youngsters being injured severely by pellet guns, resulting in extensive eye damage, many of whom were innocent bystanders, the Government of India announced the formation of a committee to study existing and alternative methods of crowd control. The 7-member committee is said to have submitted its report to the Government. This report has not been officially placed in the public domain. There is an urgent need to make the report public. A similar report prepared in 2010 was made public by the Delhi Police after I filed an RTI application. There is no reason why the 2016 report should not be made public, especially, when organisations like OFK are manufacturing ammunition for riot control without knowledge of what their impact is on the human body.

This is an issue of immense public interest. I hope readers will also start seeking such information from the Central and the State Governments as well as the law enforcement agencies that are operating in J&K.

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Pellet Guns continue to be used in Kashmir but Govt bans their use on animals

Tue, 04 Oct 2016 11:20:20 +0000

Animals are now safe from the use of unrestricted use of pellets/air guns but not Kashmiris, it would seem.

Image: Times of India

The move to restrict sale of pellet or air guns was made after a sustained campaign by animal rights activists and on the recommendation of Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).A one-and-a-half decades’ struggle of animal rights activists has finally yielded result as the Central government has ordered that sale of pellet or air guns will be only through a licensed arms dealer.

The MHA has through a notification banned the unrestricted use of pellets against animals, but the Jammu and Kashmir High Court (recently) has not banned their use against civilians in Kashmir. The MHA has reportedly constituted a committee of experts to suggest alternatives to the use of pellet guns. An air gun releasing two joules energy can kill a bird, five joules energy can kill a monkey and 20 joules can kill a human being.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), according to PTI, issued this notification protecting animals, very recently. The move to restrict sale of pellet or air guns was made after a sustained campaign by animal rights activists and on the recommendation of Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).

The uncontrolled use of pellets by the army, paramilitary and police, on protesters in Kashmir have blinded close to 100 persons, especially young children inside homes had resulted in national and international outrage as most victims have been blinded by the use of pellets banned internationally Official data relating to 45 days of street violence in Kashmir, procured by The Hindu from 10 districts, showed that around 3,000 civilians were injured by pellets and 122 by bullets. This report said that around 51 per cent of the 5,800 civilians injured in Kashmir in the ongoing violence were hit by pellets and most of them were in constituencies represented by the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in south Kashmir. Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts saw relatively fewer injuries.

According to a notification issued in the case of animals only a few weeks ago, sale and transfer of pellet guns can only be made through a registered arms dealer. Earlier, it could have been procured from toy shops easily. The fresh notification said that “sale, transfer and keeping for sale or transfer of all types of air weapons including air rifles, air guns and paintball markers or guns irrespective of the muzzle energy or calibre or bore shall be only through the authorised arms and ammunition dealers or the air weapon dealers licensed under these rules”.

An air gun having muzzle energy less than 20 joules can only be sold against an identification and residence proof of the buyer and such a gun with muzzle energy of more than 20 joules will be sold only through an authorised arms and ammunition dealer to a valid arms licence holder. An air gun releasing two joules energy can kill a bird, five joules energy can kill a monkey and 20 joules can kill a human being.

So, while the Jammu & Kashmir Bar Association lost its battle to get pellets banned (and the high court there held that until there is violence by unruly mobs, use of force is inevitable.), animals have been protected by this irrational use by the MHA.

[A bench comprising chief justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and justice Ali Mohammad Magrey also declined the plea to prosecute the officers who ordered use of pellet guns or fired them even as it directed the authorities to provide adequate medical treatment to the injured by specialists in or outside the state This plea had been filed in the J & K High Court in late September, seeking a ban on the use of pellet guns in the valley, animals have won this right to be free of being targeted by pellets. On September 21, the court had also said, “ “Having regard to the ground situation prevailing as of now and the fact that Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs has already constituted a Committee of Experts through its Memorandum dated July 26, 2016 for exploring other alternative to pellet guns….“Before filing of the report by the Expert Committee and a decision taken at the government level, we are not inclined to prohibit the use of pellet guns in rare and extreme situations,” the court said in its order.]

The AWBI was more successful with the MHA. While making its plea to the Union Home Ministry had said that air guns, air pistols or air files procured without a license would adversely affect the animals. Animal right activist Gauri Maulekhi of People For Animals (PFA), an organisation which has been spearheading a campaign for banning unrestricted sale of air guns, said her organisation had received hundreds of complaints about its misuse.

“PFA received hundreds of complaints from people about how their neighbours were shooting stray dogs and how children were doing target practice on birds and other animals. “To us this suggested a trend which led to a stakeholder consultation and then we decided that there should be some kind of restriction,” she said.

PFA had first moved the Delhi High Court in 2000 seeking ban on unrestricted sale of air guns, air pistols and air rifles and secured a favourable order in 2002. However, the order was challenged by National Rifle Association of India and Manufacturers of Toy Airgun, Rifle, Pistol and Pellet Association in the Supreme Court which stayed the high court verdict prompting the activists to approach the government again.

“We told them that a pellet gun is a killer and that gun is going to be used on either birds or squirrels or dogs. It is creating a whole viciousness. You either license them or remove them,” Maulekhi said and expressed her happiness over the government order which was issued in later part of July this year.

References:
As pellet guns continue to be used on protesters in Kashmir, Govt bans their use on animals

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NGO Appeal: ‘Open Your Hearts to Restore Vision to Those Mercilessly Shot by Pellets’

Fri, 12 Aug 2016 06:10:58 +0000

An Appeal from HELP (Human Effort for Love and Peace) Foundation, J&K

Dear Friends,

Four hundred and sixty (460) of our fellow Kashmiris have received grievous injuries to their eyes with pellet hits.

Doctors have operated on 385 including children and young boys.

Over 100 victims have already lost eyesight permanently. It is apprehended that many others may also lose their eyesight permanently.

HELP Foundation was the first local CSO to reach out to the injured patients in the Valley's leading hospitals including SKIMS, SMHS and its associated hospitals, with medical aid.

HELP not only provided medico-surgical stuff to the supplies to these hospitals, and a few in Kupwara, to supplement their depleted stock position, but also supported other NGOs to reach out to the maximum needy patients in the shortest possible time.

HELP has so far supported eye surgeries at SMHS and many advanced eye surgeries in private hospitals outside J&K.

Almost 250 patients stand identified who need to undergo advanced surgeries in Ophtho Specialized Hospitals outside state.

Many are being flown to Hyderabad today, Friday, August 12.

Most of the patients are diagnosed with: Vitreous hemorrhage with intraocular pallet, associated with Retinal detachment, Associated with Coronial tear, Cataract Iris Trauma. Double Perforage and related.

All our donors and benefactors are, hereby, appealed to donate to our NGO in this hour of need to enable us to reach to the maximum number of victims.

Please Donate Generously and Demonstrate Empathy with the Grief and Grievances of Kashmiris

The Facebook Appeal may be read here.

Cheques/DDs in favour of ‘HELP Foundation’ may be posted to:
HELP Foundation, J&K

Contact Person at HELP Foundation
Ms. Nighat Shafi http://www.helpfoundation.co/aboutus.aspx

Full Address of HELP Foundation:
HELP Foundation, J&K
50 Tulsi Bagh behind Amar Singh College, Srinagar
E-mail ID: Ms Nighat Shafi

We thank you in advance. If you do decide to donate please intimate us at sabrangind@gmail.com

All donations to HELP Foundation qualify tax exemption under section 80G.

Bank A/c. details for local donations:
Bank Name: J&K Bank Ltd.
Branch: Baghat Barzulla, Srinagar
IFSC Code: JAKA0BAGAAT
A/c. No: 0278 0401 0001 3260
Title: HELP Foundation

For Foreign Currency:
Bank Name: J&K Bank Ltd.
Branch: Residency Road, Srinagar
IFSC Code: JAKA0CHINAR
A/c. No: 0005 0101 0000 6228
Title: HELP Foundation
SWIFT Code: JAKAINBBSRI

Details About the Foundation mat be read at the Foudnation’s Website
http://www.jkhf.in/Contactus.aspx
The Foundation is the only NGO in the state working in both the divisions, Kashmir as well as Jammu. It has also been working with and helping the members of the minority community who are staying back in the valley, even after the general exodus of community after 1990.

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