The Rapid Action Force fired pellet gun at protesters demonstrating against the alleged irregularities in public exams on July 20 on the orders of a Delhi Police officer, The Hindu reported on Tuesday citing documents.The newspaper reported that it had accessed a general diary entry made at 1.24 am by the Rapid Action Force. The force fired two rounds from an anti-riot gun on the directions of a deputy commissioner of police-rank officer, it added.The diary entry said that to control the crowd during the protest, “on the orders of the DCP”, the Rapid Action Force deputy commandant fired 55 rounds of non-electrical shell, 15 rounds of electrical shell, five tear smoke grenade, two rounds using ballistic cartridges with plastic pellets from an anti-riot gun, The Hindu reported.Pellet guns used against protestersAt least four persons were injured in the incident on July 20. This was the first time that a pellet gun has been used in Delhi against unarmed protesters, according to The Hindu.The agitation in Delhi began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union education minister at the time, over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams. Pradhan resigned on Saturday.On July 20, thousands joined the protest two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.A day after the pellet guns were fired, the Delhi Police had denied using the weapon against the protesters. However, reports said that the pellet guns had been carried by the Rapid Action Force, a unit of the Central Reserve Police Force that was also deployed at the protest, as part of its riot-control equipment.The police in the national capital and the Central Reserve Police Force report to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.On Monday, The Indian Express quoted unidentified officials as saying that a person from the Rapid Action Force deployed at Connaught Place fired at least seven rounds from his pellet gun. While five rounds hit protesters, two struck the ground, the newspaper reported.Three petitioners have moved the Supreme Court seeking a ban on the use of pellet guns to disperse civilians during protests. Two of the petitioners, Prashant Kumar Singh and Sheikh Irshad Mansoor, were injured by pellets fired by security personnel on July 20. The lead petitioner is former Intelligence Bureau Special Director Yashovardhan Azad.The petitioners have contended that such weapons are unreasonable and dangerous tools unfit for dispersing protesters.Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.Also read: Delhi hospital reports show pellet wounds on journalist covering students’ protestsFollow Scroll’s coverage of the youth protests here