Experts Say Delhi Protesters Show Pellet Gun Wound Patterns

New Delhi (GNP): Independent ballistics and forensic experts have said that injuries sustained by several Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protesters during a demonstration in the Indian capital last week bear the characteristic markings of pellet gun fire, adding new scrutiny to a crackdown that left dozens injured on both sides.

The protest, held on 20 July, saw tens of thousands of demonstrators attempt to march toward parliament to demand education reforms and the resignation of the education minister, before police and paramilitary personnel moved to disperse the crowd with batons, sticks and tear gas.

Delhi Police reported 60 protesters and 118 of their own personnel injured in the clashes, while CJP organizers said the true number of injured demonstrators was considerably higher than the official figure.

At the center of the dispute is whether security forces used pellet guns, shotguns typically associated with bird hunting that fire cartridges containing hundreds of small metal pellets in a wide, indiscriminate spread when directed at crowds, a weapon banned in several countries.

The Indian government has not confirmed reports that such weapons were deployed, and Delhi Police initially dismissed the claims, stating they do not possess pellet guns. However, medical evidence gathered from at least four protesters treated in hospitals, combined with expert analysis of photographs and video, has lent weight to the allegations.

UK-based ballistics expert Philip Boyce told the BBC the wound pattern was consistent with a pump-action shotgun, noting that such injuries can be serious even when fired from a distance of 50 to 100 feet. NR Jenzen-Jones of Armament Research Services said footage from the protest showed police using shotguns for crowd control, and that the resulting injuries were consistent with birdshot use, a practice he noted has a documented history within Indian law enforcement despite the health risks posed by lead pellets embedding in the body.

Two of the injured protesters described being shot in Connaught Place, a hub near parliament, in the hours following the crackdown.

One, a 28-year-old journalist, said he began running after seeing a security officer aim a weapon at him and felt a burning sensation in his arm and back moments later; medical records show he sustained more than two dozen pellet wounds across his elbow and upper back, with doctors telling him surgery could worsen the injury and that the fragments would likely remain lodged in his body.

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A second protester, who was walking toward the main rally point at Jantar Mantar when paramilitary personnel began beating the crowd, said pellets struck his eyebrow and chin after an officer fired toward his group; scans later showed more than 40 pellets in his body, including three lodged near his eye, neck and nose, of which surgeons were able to remove seven the following morning.

A hospital official confirmed his injuries were caused by small embedded particles consistent with pellets, though said definitive confirmation of the weapon used would require forensic examination.

The allegations have taken on political weight in addition to their medical dimension. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has called for the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah, whose ministry oversees both the Delhi Police and the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, and has appeared publicly alongside injured protesters, including a 19-year-old university student who may lose vision in one eye due to pellet wounds across his face and body.

The student said he had joined the protest over the issue of repeated examination paper leaks, having previously had a police recruitment exam cancelled for the same reason, and that he was struck while marching toward security forces despite being unable to identify who fired. Responding to the allegations in parliament, a government minister said no bullets had been fired, and that only tear gas was used, without directly addressing the pellet gun claims. The Central Reserve Police Force has not yet responded to requests for comment on the matter.