CJP protest: DCP ordered RAF to use force, pellets? Delhi cops probe diary entry

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police is inquiring into a “back-dated” general diary entry recorded at Parliament Street police station that surfaced Tuesday claiming that it was on the directions of a DCP that a deputy commander of the Rapid Action Force used force and fired two rounds of plastic pellets at protesters.The diary entry seems to have been recorded at 1.24am on July 22, two days after the protest on July 20.Also read: ‘Marriage proposals keep coming for Abhijeet Dipke’According to the entry, the deputy commander said that during the protest, he was attached with a DCP who ordered him to use 55 non-electric shells, 15 electric shells, five tear gas grenades besides two shots of plastic pellets from an anti-riot gun. Though injuries on patients have prima facie confirmed pellets were fired, the developments point towards the first ever use of pellet guns in Delhi. The DCP in question is learned to have informed the police brass that his deployment was at another place and not at the spotmentioned in the entry.Though the use of pellet guns is not banned in law, the injuries they inflict have caused large-scale outrage for years.Senior cops said they were looking into the matter. They refuted the use of pellet guns by Delhi Police. Officials said that at the location where the DCP was deployed, only tear gas had been requisitioned as part of crowd-control arrangements. They were used only after protesters allegedly turned violent, resorting to stone-pelting and attacking police personnel, cops said.Sources said that the police brass has sought a report from the police station regarding the issue.General diary entries are daily records of incidents maintained by the duty officer of the rank of constable or head constable at every police station. The entry mentions the use of 55 non-electric shells and 15 electric shells, which, according to a senior police officer, are both mechanisms used for firing tear gas shells. While one involves throwing with hand, the other is shot from a gun.Police didn’t confirm reports of a similar order purportedly issued by another DCP which has surfaced on social media.

The controversy over the alleged use of pellet guns had emerged soon after the Parliament march, with social media posts claiming that Delhi Police had fired pellet guns at protesters. The force dismissed the allegations, saying in a “Fake News Alert” on its official X handle that it neither possesses nor uses pellet guns.