Over 1,400 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel have been injured in the last three months and more than 50 times CRPF camps have been attacked by violent mobs in the Valley. Still, the CRPF personnel resort to firing only when there is imminent danger to life and property yet again after exhausting all non-lethal methods.
This was maintained by Special CRPF DG, J&K zone, N.K. Tripathi in a release issued to the press to put the records straight vis-à-vis allegations of use of excess and lethal force on the protesters during ongoing unrest in Kashmir.
He claimed, “There is a perception among some people and especially among some sections of civil society that CRPF is firing on the riotous mobs in J&K at the first instance without using the alternate methods. It is also presumed in some section that CRPF uses force at the first sight of violence. Some people have even criticised CRPF for going berserk. Nothing could be farther from truth than this.” Special DG CRPF maintained that the track record of CRPF in recent times has been to maintain a self imposed restraint even in the face of grave provocation.