The police dropped when some officers raised apprehensions that if the equipment hits the market, it can be misused by the public. (Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey)In 2015, the then Delhi Police chief B S Bassi had decided to equip policemen with stun guns or tasers for their safety after several attacks on officers were reported. They even decided to procure them, but the idea was later dropped.
Security personnel in the West use “non-lethal” weapons as a means of crowd control.
A senior police officer said the idea was to use tasers in situations where a person had to be subdued without lethal force.
“Initially, they ordered half-a-dozen stun guns from a US-based company for a pilot project and asked officers for feedback. The plan was to order more later. A police stun baton with a built-in torch was provided to ACPs and higher-ranked officers in all districts, and they were told to be armed while patrolling, especially at night,” an officer said.
But the idea was dropped when some officers raised apprehensions that if the equipment hits the market, it can be misused by the public. “There were also fears of criminals using the weapon, which releases an electro-magnetic pulse to paralyse a person’s central nervous system for around 20 seconds,” the officer said.
