CRPF director general Gyanendra Pratap Singh

NEW DELHI: CRPF director general Gyanendra Pratap Singh on Saturday said the force would conduct a professional post-analysis of the action taken by personnel of Rapid Action Force (RAF), a unit of CRPF, against anti-NEET paper leak protestors, including during the July 20 march to Parliament. “Now, since agitation has been called off, and once assembled people disperse, we would make a professional post-event assessment, like we do after every major assignment, and then let you know of the view of force headquarters,” Singh told TOI on Saturday. This is the first official statement from CRPF in the wake of allegations that pellet guns were used against protestors during the July 20 march to Parliament. Three people have claimed to have suffered pellet injuries in the police action.

At least 47 RAF personnel too sustained injuries, allegedly from violent elements in the protests.Sources said the post-event assessment by CRPF will go into all possible aspects of RAF deployment during the protests. This would include action taken by RAF personnel against the protestors, riot-control gear used by them and whether the ground situation justified it. It will examine if the RAF response was graded and in line with the standard operating procedures and riot control manual. An officer said the CRPF will also examine the provocation and aggression that the RAF personnel likely faced at the hands of external, motivated elements who may have infiltrated the protests.CRPF sources said of the 47 RAF personnel injured during the course of their deployment for protests in the Capital, six have sustained head injuries and four, fractures. An officer claimed RAF personnel were hit by protesters with iron rods, likely retrieved from damaged railings. The accounts of the personnel regarding how the injuries were sustained, will be recorded as part of the post-event analysis. Delhi Police had clarified that they do have any pump action guns (PAG), but these are part of RAF’s standard anti-riot gear, along with shock batons. The CRPF review will probe allegations of firing of pellets by any personnel on duty, and if such action was authorised, justified and part of a graded response.NEW DELHIPAG, commonly known as pellet gun, is classified as a ‘non-lethal’ anti-riot measure. As per the standard RAF drill, it is to be used only as a second last resort, with police firing being the last. Any RAF anti-riot action should start with engagement with the protestors or unruly mob, followed by warning on public address system to disperse. If all this fails, water cannon or tear gas may be used. Pellet gun is the next level of force applied, and may be fitted with a muzzle deflector so that the pellets hit only the lower body, leaving vital organs unharmed.