DISABILITY rights organisations, individuals and concerned citizens have unequivocally condemned the reported use of pellet guns and electric shock weapons against peaceful protesters during the Sansad Chalo march in New Delhi on July 20, 2026. The following statement drafted by the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) was endorsed by 447 people including disability rights organisations/activists, academicians, scientists, students and a wide spectrum of people.
Media reports indicate that several protesters sustained serious injuries, including Mr. Sheikh Irshad Manssori (25), who reportedly suffered multiple pellet injuries on his chest, neck and face and is undergoing treatment at the Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital. Doctors at Delhi’s AIIMS are battling to save the vision of nineteen year old Sahil Lochab who was hit by pellets while waving the tricolour at Jantar Mantar. Reports have also alleged the use of electric shock batons during the crackdown.
We view the use of these weapons with particular alarm because they are known to cause permanent disabilities. Pellet guns have caused irreversible eye injuries and blindness. Electric shock weapons can result in neurological and cardiac complications, severe psychological trauma, fractures and spinal injuries caused by falls, and other long-term impairments. Weapons whose foreseeable consequence is permanent disability have no place in the policing of civilian protests.
We also deplore the use of force against persons with disabilities who were participating in the protest. The State needs to be reminded that it has a heightened obligation to ensure the safety, dignity and equal protection of disabled persons under the law and not to subject them to violence while they exercise their constitutional right to peaceful protest.
Disability rights organisations have consistently opposed the use of pellet guns ever since they were first deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, where hundreds of civilians suffered permanent visual impairment. Instead of withdrawing weapons known to inflict irreversible harm, they continue to be deployed against civilians in different parts of the country. Reports of the use of electric shock weapons only deepen these concerns.
Every pellet-induced blindness and every preventable permanent impairment is not merely an injury -- it is a State-created disability. A government that professes commitment to the rights, dignity and inclusion of persons with disabilities cannot simultaneously deploy weapons whose predictable consequence is the creation of disability. Such actions fundamentally contradict the values embodied in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the guarantees of life, equality and dignity under the Constitution of India.
The disability rights movement cannot remain silent when the State itself becomes an agent in creating disabilities.
We therefore demand that the Government of India:
1. Immediately ban the use of pellet guns, electric shock batons and all other weapons capable of causing permanent disability by all police and paramilitary forces.
2. Institute an independent judicial inquiry into the police action of July 20, 2026, including the reported use of pellet guns and electric shock batons.
3. Identify and prosecute all personnel responsible for the use of such weapons and fix accountability throughout the chain of command, including those who authorised their deployment.
4. Provide free medical treatment, rehabilitation, psychosocial support and adequate compensation to every person injured during the police action, particularly those who have suffered permanent or long-term disabilities.
Instead of responding to peaceful protests with force including the use of weapons that permanently maim, the Government must engage in meaningful dialogue with the students and youth who have taken to the streets. Their grievances deserve to be heard with seriousness and respect. We urge the Government to immediately cease all repressive measures, release those arbitrarily detained, and address the legitimate demands of the protesting students through consultation and dialogue.
