The Supreme Court on Thursday said that pellet guns cannot be banned as long as the existing advisory permits their use for crowd control in exceptional circumstances by security agencies, while making it clear that allegations of specific misuse can be examined on a case-by-case basis. 

The top court took note of a plea on the use of metallic pellet guns during the recent students’ protests against the Neet paper leak in Delhi and asked the Centre to preserve the ammunition log of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) deployed at the Jantar Mantar.

Observing that police, as per the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) advisory, are empowered to use pellet guns in exceptional situations, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana termed “vague” the prayer in the plea seeking a complete ban on such usage. 

“Prayers are not to use pellet guns. In exceptional cases, police regulations permit the use of pellet guns. If you are interested in phasing out pellet guns, you will have to challenge that very provision as ultra vires to Article 21 (right to life),” Justice Bagchi said.