Teen may lose vision after alleged pellet gun use at Delhi protest

NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A 19-year-old protester may permanently lose vision in one eye after suffering a suspected pellet injury during a police crackdown on demonstrators marching toward India’s Parliament, raising fresh concerns over the possible use of pellet-firing weapons against civilians despite official denials by police.

The injuries were reported after security forces dispersed thousands of demonstrators taking part in the July 20 “Sansad Chalo” (March to Parliament) protest.

The protest is organized by the student-led Cockroach Janta Party over the alleged leak of India’s highly competitive National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the entrance examination for medical colleges.

According to hospital sources, more than 80 people, including protesters and police personnel, were injured during the clashes.

Nineteen-year-old Sahil Lochab underwent emergency eye surgery at the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after doctors found suspected pellet fragments lodged in his right eye.

His family said doctors informed them that extensive damage to his pupil had left him with only a “1% chance” of regaining vision in the injured eye. Although surgeons removed the fragments, they warned that the injury could result in permanent blindness.

Another protester, 25-year-old Shaikh Irshad Mansoori, underwent surgery at Delhi’s Lady Hardinge Medical College after sustaining multiple pellet-like injuries to his face and neck.

Hospital sources said surgeons successfully removed several fragments lodged below his eyes but were unable to extract another fragment located close to a major blood vessel in his neck because of the risk involved. Doctors said he may require another surgery.

According to a friend accompanying him at the hospital, Mansoori told Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, who visited injured protesters, that he had joined the demonstration to demand accountability over alleged irregularities in the country’s medical entrance examination system.

The controversy intensified after videos circulating on social media appeared to show a member of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a specialized anti-riot unit of India’s Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), firing what observers described as a pellet-firing weapon near Palika Bazaar in central Delhi, where Mansoori was injured.

Another widely shared video showed a protester with injuries resembling those typically associated with pellet impacts.

An Outlook magazine reporter who covered the clashes also said he suffered multiple puncture wounds after being struck by what he believed was a pellet-firing weapon.

The journalist said he saw an officer aiming the weapon in his direction before he turned to run.

“I saw it aimed at me and immediately ran. Something struck my backpack and my arm. If I hadn’t turned, it could have hit my chest or my face,” he said. Medical records reportedly documented multiple puncture wounds to his arm.

Delhi Police have categorically denied using pellet guns during the operation.

In a statement, the force described reports that police fired pellet guns at peaceful protesters as “completely false and misleading,” adding that Delhi Police neither possess nor used such weapons during the operation.

However, the allegations have focused primarily on the Rapid Action Force, which was deployed alongside Delhi Police during the protest. The CRPF has not publicly commented on the allegations or clarified what crowd-control weapons, if any, were used by its personnel during the operation.

Several other protesters also sustained serious injuries during the crackdown.

Twenty-one-year-old student Sakshi remained in the intensive care unit of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital after she was reportedly trapped in a crowd crush during the police action.

Another protester, 32-year-old Nutan Toppo, underwent emergency surgery after a tear gas shell allegedly struck near her ear, causing severe injuries.

Nineteen-year-old NEET aspirant Abhishek Sharma also required stitches after suffering head injuries during the clashes.

The reported injuries have renewed scrutiny of pellet-firing weapons, which have long been criticized by medical experts and human rights organizations because they can inflict devastating injuries despite being classified as “less-lethal” crowd-control weapons.

The shotguns discharge hundreds of small metal pellets in a single blast, making them highly inaccurate and capable of causing severe facial trauma, permanent eye injuries and blindness.

The weapons came under intense international scrutiny during the mass protests that erupted in Indian-administered Kashmir in 2016, when security forces extensively used pellet-firing shotguns against demonstrators.

Hospitals in the region treated hundreds of people with serious eye injuries, while many victims permanently lost vision in one or both eyes.

Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as United Nations human rights experts, have repeatedly called on India to end the use of pellet-firing shotguns against civilian protesters, arguing that the weapons are inherently indiscriminate and cause life-altering injuries.