On Wednesday, the Sant Kabir Nagar Police Station in Uttar Pradesh issued a statement regarding a video of one of its policemen that went viral over the internet portraying him as someone who wasn’t even able to load a rifle. The Police station condemned media reports saying that the cop failed to load the gun properly, and said that the rifle being used during the inspection was an anti-riot gun which demanded the user to insert the plastic pellet from the front of the barrel of the gun.
On Tuesday, a video went viral on social media in which a police officer was seen instructing another cop on how to operate a gun. The video showed DIG RK Bharadwaj examining an SI as he asked him to load a rifle during a surprise check at a police station in Sant Kabir Nagar.
In the video, the SI is seen inserting a pellet into the barrel of the gun through the muzzle and explains that this is the process to fire in such a way that no one gets injured. After this, the DIG asks him not to fire and asks him to unload the gun, the SI tilts the barrel down and the bullet comes out.
NDTV, now owned by the Adani Group, mocked the police officer, suggesting that he does not know how to load a rifle. The report claimed that the cop treated the gun like a cannon from a couple of centuries ago because he tried to put the bullet through the ‘hose’. Calling the situation bizarre, NDTV claimed that the DIG and other officers held their laughter back.
“UP Cop Fails To Load Rifle During Surprise Inspection, Video Goes Viral”, reported India TV. The report claimed that the video has caused embarrassment for Uttar Pradesh Police because the police officer didn’t know how to load a gun. Hindustan Times also made the same claim in a report titled “U.P cop fails to load a gun but triggers a laughter riot; Comical surprise inspection goes viral”. The media house claimed that the “epic failure of a sub-inspector at an Uttar Pradesh police station has shocked not only his superiors, but also the internet”.
Uttar Pradesh Aam Aadmi Party posted the video mocking the state police officer for allegedly not knowing how to even load a gun. The party also tagged UP CM Yogi Adityanath writing sarcastically that criminals are fearing such cops.
“Kudos to Uttar Pradesh Police! In Sant Kabir Nagar, SI sir started firing by putting a bullet in the barrel of the gun, when the UP police does not even know where the bullet is put in. CM Yogi Adityanath, criminals are trembling because of such policemen only,” the AAP said.
However, the Uttar Pradesh Police has issued a statement saying that, in fact, the police officer loaded the gun correctly, as it is a special anti-riot rifle used to fire plastic pellets and not a regular rifle. The Sant Kabir Nagar Police Station issued a statement explaining the working of the rifle, which is modified from the .303 rifle by cutting short the barrel. The police also condemned the media reports and others for mocking the police officer by wrongly claiming that he didn’t know how to load the rifle.
“Annual inspection was conducted by the UP Police on December 27. DIG RK Bharadwaj was conducting the inspection when one of the officers demonstrated the usage of an anti-riot gun. The specific gun needs to be loaded from both the chamber and the muzzle of the gun. At the time of inspection, the officer was showcasing how it could be done which is clear in the attached video. His video was wrongly made viral portraying that he could not even load a gun. The Sant Kabir Nagar Police Station strongly condemns the incident,” the Police Station said in its statement.
The Police Station also posted a video of one of its other officers who demonstrated the process of loading the anti-riot gun which is based on the .303 rifle. The officer while demonstrating the rifle says that it is an anti-riot rifle which has been made from the .303 rifle by cutting short the barrel.
Explaining the operating procedure of the rifle, he says that the rifle requires a blank .303 cartridge, and it needs to be loaded directly into the chamber. He explains that as it is a blank cartridge and it does not have the bullet inside it, a magazine can’t be used because the cartridge will not be released from the magazine, and therefore the cartridge needs to be put directly into the cartridge. After that, he cocks the rifle and then inserts a plastic pellet through the muzzle or the front opening of the barrel. The weapon is ready for fire, the demonstrator adds.
Therefore, the clarification by the Sant Kabir Nagar Police Station and the demonstration video of the anti-riot rifle used to fire plastic pellets make it clear that the police officer correctly loaded the gun, and media houses and others including AAP wrongly accused him of not knowing how to load a rifle. The viral video also makes it clear that it is an anti-riot rifle as it has a very short barrel, and looks exactly the same as the rifle displayed in the demonstration video.
Moreover, while the media claimed that other officers suppressed their laughter after seeing the ‘epic failure’ of the cop, which is misleading and baseless. There is no sign in the video that other cops were trying to suppress their laughter seeing the SI losing the gun. While on cop can be mildly smiling, it can be for any reason and it can’t be linked it to the loading of the gun. The claim that other officers knew the SI was wrong is pure imagination of media, and there is no evidence of the same in the video, as all the officers are seen maintaining normal posture while the DIG tests the SI and explains the working of the anti-riot rifle.
