If the Ahmedabad police have their way, then controlling the irate crowd either during the riots or rampages will be easy and effective soon. At the same time, the weapons used by the police to bring the crowd under control will not harm the members of the crowd.
The police are planning to induct various non-lethal weapons in its arsenal for crowd control and management. The project is expected to cost around Rs2.5 crore.
According to police, the non-lethal weapons are rubber bullets, pepper bullets, stun guns emitting electromagnetic weapons, anti-escape stun belt (specifically for prisoners), unbreakable and expandable stun batons, colour smoke projectile for marking purpose (to identify rioters), and tyre-deflation device.
These weapons hit the rioters hard, cause great pain to them, yet they don't kill them. Police say these weapons are highly useful in controlling rioters or crowd who go on the rampage. These weapons are popularly known as non-lethal-weapons or irritate agents that can easily disperse the crowd and promise to reduce fatal incidents during police operations.
"We had a demonstration of such weapons recently at police headquarters at Shahibaug. These weapons are quite useful as far as crowd control is concerned. Therefore, we are chalking out a plan to induct them in policing," said joint commissioner of police, Shamsher Singh, city police headquarters at Shahibaug.
But there have been controversies raised over use of these new-age weapons. The police, however, believe that they are much better than using the conventional arms in controlling crowds.
For example, the stun batons which are also expandable can shock people if they touch it. The pepper bullet can make the rioters blind for a few moments, while an anti- escape stun belt will not allow a prisoner to run away, with the remote control in the hand of police.
Police want to introduce these weapons as early as possible. However, a proposal is yet to be sent to the director-general of police or the state government.
