NEW DELHI: While
Tamil Nadu government has tried to justify the death of 11 persons at
Tuticorin during the anti-Sterlite protests by claiming that police fired upon protesters under “unavoidable circumstances”, rules say that police can use firearms to disperse a crowd ‘only in extreme and very exceptional circumstances’ that too not above the legs.
A handbook on ‘Crowd Control’ by
Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), asserts that fundamental tactical principles used in crowd control, combat and on the sports field, are similar but there is a basic difference in dispersing a crowd and in routing enemy forces.
BPRD says, “The crowd is not an enemy to be annihilated but fellow citizens who have to be dealt with in a manner which brings the least harm to them.”
BPRD is a body under the ministry of home affairs and its analyses and handbooks are usually shared with state/central police forces which are supposed to implement the guidelines/recommendations.
The BPRD list three ways to overcome unruly crowds - superior force; attacking at a weak spot; and demoralising or disorganising by surprise.
“Though the police do have superior fire power (guns) than the crowd, it is generally inferior in numbers. But recourse to weapons is generally ruled out, hence the police have to rely on the latter two methods (attacking the weak spot of the crowd and demoralising or disorganising it),” it says.
As soon as the crowd disperses, firing should ‘cease’, and before the police resorts to the use of “firearms”, cane charge, plastic pellets and tear gas should be used “as a rule,” BPRD says.