He knew pellet guns from Kashmir. Then he was hit in Delhi
"When I went to the CJP protest, I never expected I'd be shot [by a pellet gun]. I thought pellet guns were used only in
"When I went to the CJP protest, I never expected I'd be shot [by a pellet gun]. I thought pellet guns were used only in Kashmir. I had gone to take part in the march to Parliament. Amid the tear gas shelling during the clash between protesters and police near Jantar Mantar, I was hit." These are the words of a 25-year-old protester who says he was shot by a pellet gun during the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) Chalo Sansad march on July 20 near Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The Delhi resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, recounted the incident in a conversation with India Today Digital on Thursday and said his medical records from Safdarjung Hospital mention pellet wounds. Read Full Story The protester spent a day in Safdarjung Hospital before he was discharged, and is currently recovering at home. All the pellets have now been removed from his body. Not everyone seems to have been so lucky. A 19-year-old man who was hit by pellets is most likely to lose vision in one eye due to the injuries he sustained at the protest. The Indian Express reports on a man who has a pellet lodged precariously close to a blood vessel in the neck. All these people had joined the march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament on July 20 in New Delhi, during which Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force personnel allegedly used excessive force to control the crowd. On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court ordered the Delhi Police to preserve all video evidence from that day. The protester also sustained pellet injuries to his back during the July 20 protest. (Image: Special Arrangement) "I was moving around the protest site, where people had gathered at different locations. Near Jantar Mantar, one group was engaged in a confrontation with police. Stones were being thrown and the police were firing tear gas shells at the crowd," the 25-year-old protester with pellet injuries told India Today Digital. "I don't know who started it. What I saw was the police firing tear gas shells one after another. A person standing right next to me was hit above the eye by a tear gas shell.
Initially, the shells were being fired in the air, but when the clash intensified, they [the police and the RAF] started firing at the crowd directly, with horizontal gun barrels," he explained. The victim said he was not expecting that pellet guns would be used to control the crowd. "Then, amid the ruckus at the protest site, I suddenly saw a policeman aiming a gun at me, so I tried to run. That's when I was hit on my back and around my right elbow. If I hadn't seen him aiming at me and run, I think I would have been hit in the face," he said. He said he did not feel the pain immediately, probably because of the adrenaline rush. The medico-legal report of the protester who was hit by pellets during the July 20 protest in Delhi. The report mentions the usage of 'pellet gun'. (Image: Special Arrangement) MULTIPLE CASES OF PELLET GUN VICTIMS IN DELHI PROTEST The Indian Express reported that 25-year-old Shaikh Irshad Mansoori sustained multiple pellet injuries during the July 20 clashes near the CJP protest and remained hospitalised at Lady Hardinge Hospital. According to the report, doctors removed several pellets from his face and upper body, though one remained lodged near a major blood vessel in his neck. A friend accompanying him alleged that an RAF jawan fired at him near Palika Bazar in Connaught Place. The Indian Express also reported the case of 25-year-old Irshad Shaikh, an MBA graduate working in Gurugram, who said he sustained multiple pellet injuries. Speaking from Lady Hardinge Hospital after undergoing surgery, Shaikh said multiple pellets hit his face and upper body, piercing his eye, cheek, nose, chin, neck, shoulder and chest. A 19-year-old CJP protester who suffered pellet injuries during the July 20 march might lose vision in his right eye, with his family saying doctors have given him only a 1% chance of recovery, reported The Hindu. 'HOT METAL PIERCED MY FLESH, IT FELT LIKE MY BACK WAS ON FIRE' "At first, I was confused. I thought maybe this is what tear gas feels like. But after a few minutes, it felt like hot metal piercing my flesh.
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