New Delhi: The Rapid Action Force (RAF) has initiated an inquiry into allegations of its personnel using disproportionate force and firing pellet guns during the ongoing student protests in Delhi, officials said Friday.
The officials told that the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has asked the inspector general (IG) of the RAF, its special anti-riots unit, to verify the sequence of events its various teams undertook to “control” the protesters as well as incidents where they were attacked.
CRPF officials said a formal Court of Inquiry (CoI) has not been initiated into these incidents yet. They said such a probe will be ordered once this verification exercise reveals the facts.
The students launched a ‘Chalo Sansad’ march from their ‘dharna’ site at Jantar Mantar July 20 under the umbrella of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demanding that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resign and take responsibility for the recent NEET question paper leak.
The officials said the RAF has taken cognisance of multiple social media videos and photos featuring its personnel in blue dungarees. They include footage showing them deploying guns and sticks and undertaking a lathi-charge, alongside videos where its personnel were surrounded and attacked by the crowd.
“All legal procedures stipulated to check the conduct of the personnel during such operational duties will be followed,” a senior officer of the force said.
The officials said the RAF possesses the 12-bore pump-action gun, also known as a pellet gun, as part of its riot control armoury. The standard operating procedure (SOP) stipulates use of the pellet gun when jawans face extremely challenging situations, including a grave danger to their life, they said.
According to the SOP, these guns should essentially be used with a deflector so that the metal or rubber pellet inflicts fewer injuries and only on the lower half of the body.
At least two students have been admitted to local hospitals with pellet injuries since January 20.
While the Delhi Police has said it does not possess pellet guns and called such reports misleading, neither the CRPF nor the RAF has commented on the charges of their personnel firing the ammunition so far.
The RAF is also verifying instances where footage shows stranded jawans being attacked by protesters, a video where a man in an RAF uniform was depicted tripping a rushing protester (causing the protester to fall), and another where a shock-emitting gun was stated to be used against a protester.
The CRPF also instructed the commanders of the RAF and other regular units deployed for the protests not to speak to the press after a similar interaction by a woman RAF officer earlier this week was deemed “undesirable”.
Certain purported comments made by RAF Assistant Commandant Sonia Sehrawat on the protests through her Instagram handle are also being analysed by the CRPF headquarters for possible violation of the paramilitary’s social media policy, the officials said.
The CRPF issued its social media guidelines for personnel in 2023 where it specifically warned them from commenting on controversial or political matters that may come back to haunt them later.