"The injuries and deaths caused by this cruel weapon bear testimony to how dangerous, inaccurate and indiscriminate it is," Akar Patel, executive director at Amnesty International India, said in a statement. "There is no proper way to use pellet-firing shotguns. It is irresponsible of the authorities to continue the use of the shotguns despite being aware of the damage they do."
Government forces in Indian-held Kashmir have been using pellet guns since 2010 as a "non-lethal" weapon following widescale civilian protests against Indian rule. After a spate of gruesome injuries last year that earned the title "epidemic of dead eyes", Amnesty and other rights groups called for a complete ban on the use of the shotguns.
A single cartridge fired releases at least 500 high-speed metal pellets. These lodge in any available body part and are difficult to remove. "In some cases, those injured by pellet-firing shotguns still have the metal pellets lodged in their skulls, near their eyes," said Dr Zahoor Wani, the lead campaigner in the group. In its report, Amnesty said it interviewed people aged from nine to 65. Among them was nine-year-old Asif Ahmad Shiekh, whose eyes were damaged by the pellets.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017