Violent protests in Kashmir are quelled using what the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) describes as ‘non-lethal’ crowd-control measures. These include pellet guns, tear gas and chilli-filled shells (containing PAVA or pelargonic acid vanillyl amide, found in chillies).
But these munitions are far from non-lethal, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of MHA data and Srinagar hospital records.
We found that:
- Tear-gas shells killed five between January 2010 and May 2019, and injured 176 between July 2016 and February 2019.
- Chilli-filled shells killed one and caused respiratory problems in 51 of 294