- Retired police officers defended Delhi Police’s handling of July 20 march.
- They highlighted 128 police injuries, criticising one-sided public discussions.
- Officers explained police follow a graded response, using non-lethal methods.
New Delhi, Jul 31 (PTI) A group of retired police officers on Friday defended the Delhi Police’s handling of the July 20 march to Parliament, saying the conversation around the violence had become “one-sided” and failed to acknowledge injuries suffered by policemen.
Addressing a press conference at the Press Club of India, the Delhi Police Retired Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association expressed solidarity with serving personnel and their families, asserting that the force was being unfairly portrayed despite acting in a difficult law-and-order situation.
Former Uttar Pradesh DGP and Rajya Sabha MP Brij Lal said criticism of the police had overshadowed the injuries sustained by 128 police personnel during the violence.
“In nearly 38 years of service, I have handled numerous law-and-order situations. Everybody is questioning what the police did, but nobody is asking who assaulted the 128 police personnel. Discussions rarely mention police training, the standard operating procedures or the sequence in which force is used,” he said.
Lal added that police personnel are trained to follow a graded response while dealing with violent crowds.
“There is a sequence. We first use water cannons, then tear gas, and only thereafter a lathi charge. Even during a baton charge, personnel are trained not to strike the vital parts of the body. Non-lethal weapons come later,” he said, arguing that police action should be viewed in the context of established crowd-control procedures.
Brij Lal also sought to defend the use of pellet guns, saying “a lot of hype” had been created around them despite their being a non-lethal crowd-control option meant to reduce casualties.
“A pellet gun is a 12-bore shotgun. It was introduced so that police do not have to resort to rifles. It has been unnecessarily turned into a villain,” he said, adding that the Supreme Court had upheld the legality of such non-lethal weapons.
The retired personnel also appealed to the younger generation to recognise the sacrifices made by police personnel.
Retired ACP Rajender Pathania, who said he had served his entire career in the Delhi Police, said police personnel were “not fragile” but deserved greater public understanding.
“I request the younger generation to also recognise the role the police play in maintaining law and order and safeguarding the unity of the country,” he said.
The former officers said they had no objection to peaceful student protests but questioned how police personnel were expected to distinguish between genuine students and “criminal elements” during violent demonstrations.
They added that serving police personnel cannot publicly protest or defend themselves because of service conduct rules, even as they continue to face criticism.
(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
