SC asks J&K HC to decide on plea over ban on pump action guns

New Delhi   :   The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to decide within six weeks on a plea seeking a ban on the use of pellet guns, a form of pump action firearms to control protestors.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to expeditiously hear the matter decide and pass order preferably within six weeks.

The court was hearing Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association's plea seeking a ban on the use of pump action guns to control protestors.

The Pump Action Gun has been specially developed as a security weapon.

Extraction, loading and cocking of the cartridges take place in a single 'pump action' by operating handle, sliding along the magazine. Due to rapid reloading by pump action and spread of shots, it is an ideal counter-ambush tactics weapon.

Paramilitary forces used pellet guns, a form of Pump Action Gun, in 2016 in Kashmir to tackle the crowd which caused eye injuries to many.

However, pellet gun is a non-lethal weapon used to counter stone throwers but human right activists demanded not to use it to control a mob.

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court will hear the matter on Tuesday.