Jammu and Kashmir police to get non-lethal weapons to deal with mob

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir police is all set to get non-lethal weapons and ammunitions to deal with the mob during violent protests in the state in order to ensure zero causality and less injury to both sides.

The use of non-lethal equipments and body protectors by police this year has resulted in zero death of civilians and security personnel. It has also resulted in less number of injuries during law and order disturbances in the state, Director General of Police (DGP) Kuldeep Khoda said.

"The new equipments include Blast Dispersal Cartridges (BDC), Vehicle mounted tear-smoke devices and Stun-lac grenades," he told PTI here.

"The supply is underway in addition to the other equipments which are already being used by the police in the past," the DGP said.

The items ordered also include body protectors, polycarbonate shields, polycarbonate lathis, helmets and visors, bullet proof bunkers, pump action guns, water canons, anti-riot rifles, rubber pellets and plastic pellets.

In addition to this, the state police has also set up exclusive five law and order battalions to deal with protestors in Jammu and Kashmir.

The training imparted to the jawans and officers in using non-lethal equipments would help them in controlling the situations without causing any damage to the human lives.

The security personnel this year during protests used Oliristen grenades, which emit irritant gas with pungent smell, modified plastic body tear smoke shell, dye-maker grenade, blue-coloured water canons on demonstrators and stone-pelters in down-town and Srinagar city, which were very effective in controlling crowds and affecting zero-causalities and less injuries.

Dye-maker grenades and coloured water canons used to dye protestors in colours, which takes 3-4 days to get washed out, Khoda said, adding that youth drenched in colours used to stay home for some time.

The Oliristen grenades also proved very successful in view of release of irritant and pungent smell, he added.