Sahil Lochab, a 22-year-old from Najafgarh, is undergoing treatment to save vision in his right eye. A student at Delhi University who works part-time and is preparing to sit the Delhi Police recruitment exam, he was part of the July 20 march, carrying the Tricolour, when – by his own account to his mother – he heard something explode near his face.

Three days on, he has had one eye surgery, and is scheduled for another, says his family. Doctors said the cause of the injuries was a pellet gun, according to his mother and his three friends who were with him that day.

Attempts to obtain medical documentation or comment from AIIMS Trauma Center, where Lochab is admitted, were unsuccessful.

Lochab is the fourth publicly reported case of pellet-like injuries from the July 20 protest. The other three are Sheikh Irshad Mansoori, a Jabalpur man being treated at Lady Hardinge Hospital; an Outlook reporter who was fired upon near Palika Bazar; and a fourth man whose injuries have circulated online, including via Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair.

The Delhi Police have repeatedly denied that their personnel used pellet guns on July 20, beginning with their response to the first such injury, reported by The Hindu, and have since ‘fact-checked” the claim on X. Though the allegation pertains more to the Rapid Action Force – a Central Reserve Police Force wing that has pellet guns and is deployed in large numbers through the ongoing protests. Neither the CRPF nor the RAF has issued a public denial.

According to an analysis of footage carried out by The Wire, the location of the firing was near Palika Bazaar, with the sound and visuals confirming a gun was fired. “Experts have confirmed to The Wire that the guns being seen in videos and images of RAF personnel from July 20 are 12-bore pump-action rifles, colloquially called pellet guns,” read the report. 

Newslaundry has sent questions to RAF IG Seema Dhundia. This report will be updated if a response is received.

‘Only when the bandage is removed will the situation become clear’

Thousands turned out for the protest called by the Cockroach Janata Party in the capital on July 20. Lochab went with his friends. He is now admitted on the sixth floor of the AIIMS Trauma Centre; his parents, relatives and the friends who were with him wait outside the emergency gate. 

His mother, Jyoti Lochab, is deeply frightened. She says, “He is my only earning son and the eldest child in the family. He is pursuing a BA at Delhi University and also works part-time. He aspires to join the Delhi Police and is preparing for it.”

“Sahil, the eldest of three children, had gone to Jantar Mantar that day to join the protest. He told me he was waving a flag when he suddenly heard a sound like something exploding near his face; he doesn’t know what happened after that. The doctors told us Sahil was hit by a pellet gun, but they are neither giving us any paperwork nor showing us anything. They have already performed surgery on him and are saying another one is needed today. It seems his eye has been damaged…He currently has a bandage on; only when it is removed will the actual situation become clear.”

Shivam Reddy, 21, was among the friends who were with Lochab on the day of the march. “Due to the swelling crowd, we had fallen slightly behind Sahil. He was carrying the Tricolour and was walking at the very front, waving it. The police likely thought he was leading the protesters; there were about 100–150 people behind him.”

Reddy claims Lochab was hit by a pellet gun. Other protesters carried him to Lady Hardinge Hospital. What followed was a night of transfers.

“We kept rushing him from one hospital to another. From 4 pm on Tuesday until 4 am, we were running around trying to get him treated. We went to Lady Hardinge first; after administering first aid, they referred him to Safdarjung because he was bleeding heavily. When we reached Safdarjung, we stood waiting for about an hour and a half. After that, we brought him to AIIMS. Hours later, we were sent from the AIIMS Trauma Centre to the AIIMS RP-I Centre. It was there, at 4 am, that eye drops were finally administered to his eye for the first time. He couldn’t see anything out of his right eye, and he still cannot see anything.”

“He underwent eye surgery today. The pellet fragments that had lodged in his eye were removed today. The doctors have advised another surgery. They told us there is a one percent chance his vision might return, but otherwise, it is extremely unlikely. We haven’t been shown any documents yet; we haven’t even received his MLC (medico-legal case) report,” he says.

Arjun, 22, another friend, says, “We are students too; our exam papers are getting leaked. Why is the government treating us this way? What was the need for such brutality?”

“After Sahil was injured, it started raining and continued all night. Yet, we kept rushing from hospital to hospital with him in the rain, but his treatment wouldn’t begin. We were deeply distressed by this. Imagine, in such a critical condition, the patient was just moving around with us.”

Naman Reddy, 20, who also marched that day, met us at the hospital. “We study at Aryabhatta College. Sahil is a childhood friend; we live in the same neighbourhood and spend most of our time together. We were together that day as well. Sahil was targeted because he was leading a group.” 

The other cases

On July 22, Outlook reported that one of its own reporters was fired upon by a weapon, with injuries matching a pellet gun. 

The report said that medical records prepared after the incident documented multiple puncture wounds on his arm. Photographs reviewed by Outlook show several small injuries resembling pellet-like wounds, it said, publishing both the photographs and a medical report. That incident occurred near Palika Bazar – the same area where Sheikh Irshad Mansoori was injured. The reporter turned away from the firing personnel just as the shot was released, the magazine reports, narrowly avoiding his chest and face but sustaining severe injuries to his arm.

Mansoori, from Jabalpur, was operated on at Lady Hardinge Hospital on July 21. Pellets below his eyes were removed, but he might require another surgery for another pellet in his neck.

The hospital declined to provide details. Dr (Professor) Purnima Barua, Director of Lady Hardinge Medical College, told us in her office that the relevant information had already been given to DD News and ANI and that she did not wish to repeat it.

A friend who visited Mansoori on the sixth floor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said strict protocols have been in force since Union health minister J P Nadda’s visit to the hospital; Nadda also met Mansoori. 

A doctor at Lady Hardinge said around 100 people were admitted there after the protest violence, including 20 to 25 police personnel, and that most have since been discharged.

The fourth case has been reported online by several handles, including Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair.

Pellets fired from these guns penetrate the skin when sprayed from a distance. They were last known to have been used during the 2024 farmers’ protest at the Khanauri and Shambhu borders on the Punjab-Haryana boundary; police denied their use then, while farm leaders alleged several people were injured. In 2023, they were used against protesters in ethnic-strife-torn Manipur, prompting widespread outrage. And in Jammu and Kashmir during the 2016 unrest, pellet guns left several people partially or fully blind.

In a reply to Parliament in 2018, the Union government said 17 protesters or other persons were killed by pellet guns in Jammu and Kashmir during 2016 and 2017. It declined to disclose further details, citing national security.

Read this to understand the controversy around the pellet gun in India.

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