The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Grenade not of the type used recently: police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 08, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Grenade not of the type used recently: police

Staff Reporter

T.M. Jacob produces used grenade in the Assembly

HANDLE WITH CARE: Stun lac grenade, left, and Dye Marker grenade used by the police for anti-riot operations. Photo: S. Mahinsha

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police suspect that the grenade that was produced in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday could be the one that was used in July last year when Left organisations took to the streets protesting against the Government's education policy in the wake of the suicide of a self-financing engineering college student, Rajani S. Anand.

Several political activists sustained injuries when police exploded tear-gas emitting grenades to disperse violent demonstrations on the self-financing college issue in the past week.

Kerala Congress MLA T.M. Jacob produced a used grenade in the Assembly accusing the police of using lethal ammunition against the protestors.

Though the police were yet to inspect the grenade, the department has ordered an "informal inquiry" to ascertain the nature and quantity of "non-lethal" ammunitions used against violent demonstrators in the State in the past 10 days.

Eighty-six demonstrators and 141 policemen were injured in the violence. The police were attacked with stones, sticks, acid bulbs and petrol bombs.

As many as 111 vehicles, including 93 Kerala State Road Transport Corporation buses, were damaged by demonstrators. Fourteen police and Government vehicles were set on fire. An official said that during the recent agitation, the police had used only `stun lac' grenades, called `Prachand,' sourced from the Tear Smoke Unit of the Border Security Force in Tekanpur in Gwalior. The grenade splits into three parts on being thrown. The first two parts emit tear gas while the third component explodes with a resounding bang and blinding flash.

The grenade is used by all police forces in the country as per the recommendation of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). It has been in use with the State police force for the past 10 years.

The stinger grenade, called `Vrishchak,' that was used last year in the city, throws plastic pellets at high velocity when exploded. No such grenades were used in the city this year.

The grenade produced in the Assembly resembles the `Vrishcak,' an official said. He added that it could also be the Dye Marker grenade, `Amit.'

An official said the number of protestors injured would have been much higher had the police used only lathis or firearms instead of water cannons and stun lac grenades to disperse the mobs.

The police are planning to equip Flying Squad vehicles and motorbike patrols with fire extinguishers. The department is also considering buying `fire retardant' body armour for anti-riot police units.

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