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State Bank Of India Is Buying 11,000 Pellet Guns To Guard Its Offices

Non-lethal? Not quite.
TAUSEEF MUSTAFA via Getty Images

Pellet guns became infamous last year for the injuries it caused Kashmiri stone pelters last year, and now pellet guns can be found in a State Bank of India (SBI) near you.

The Hindustan Times reports that the largest bank of India is going to buy 11,000 of the guns that are only given to security guards of the government.

As has been seen during the Kashmir unrests, these guns have the potential to cause severe injuries and can even be fatal. It has the potential to main and blind.

The scariest bit? When the gun is fired, the pellets come out scattered in huge numbers. It has the potential to injure several people in its range.

Ratneshwar Varma, general manager of Rifle Factory Ishapore that manufactures these guns tells the newspaper, ""We have produced the first batch. According to the agreement, we have to deliver 11,000 guns to SBI over a period of three years. These will be however be sold only through authorised gun dealers in every state."

The Indian Express had reported a few hundred pellets that resemble ball bearing make one cartridge of a pellet gun.

While these "non-lethal" guns are only meant to only cause pain, they have resulted in deaths in of more than 100 people in Kashmir last year.

Under pressure because of the injuries and deaths in Kashmir, the government had mulled replacing the lead balls with rubber pellets and had even set up a committee to look into the issue.

The latest report on SBI acquiring pellet guns raises questions about the safety and security of employees and even customers in case pellet guns need to be used.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.