Bihar DGP Bans Automatic and Assault Weapons for Police in Law and Order Duties After Viral Siwan AK-47 Firing Incident
An exhaustive investigative report on Bihar Police's landmark policy banning AK-47s and assault rifles during routine crowd control and law-and-order duties following outrage over a policeman opening fire on student protesters in Siwan.
The Holy Quran Team
Author
Bihar DGP Bans Automatic and Assault Weapons for Police in Law and Order Duties After Viral Siwan AK-47 Firing Incident
PATNA / NEW DELHI — Facing intense national condemnation, fiery disruptions inside Parliament, and legal scrutiny over excessive use of force, the Bihar Police Headquarters on Thursday (August 13, 2026) issued a landmark directive formally prohibiting police personnel from carrying or deploying automatic and military-grade assault weapons (including AK-47, INSAS, and SLR rifles) during routine crowd-control and law-and-order duties across the state.
The sweeping policy directive, issued by Director General of Police (DGP) Alok Raj, mandates that automatic weaponry shall henceforth be strictly restricted to high-risk anti-militancy operations, anti-Naxal warfare, and crackdowns on armed organized crime cartels.
The reform comes in the aftermath of a shocking viral video from Siwan town, which captured a uniformed police constable firing an AK-47 assault rifle directly towards a crowd of demonstrating student protesters on July 25, severely injuring at least three youths.
1. The Police Headquarters Briefing
Announcing the policy overhaul at a high-level press briefing in Patna, Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Sunil Kumar confirmed that formal instructions have been dispatched to all District Magistrates and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs):
"The Director General of Police has issued categorical and binding instructions to all District Superintendents of Police: under no circumstances will automatic and assault weapons be deployed for maintaining civilian law and order. Such weapons are strictly earmarked for anti-terror, anti-militancy, and organized armed crime operations." — Sunil Kumar, ADG (Headquarters), Bihar Police
Addressing the status of the rogue constable involved in the Siwan firing, ADG (Law and Order) K.S. Anupam clarified that the constable had acted entirely without authorization:
"There was no command or authorization given to open fire. The constable fired on his own accord. In fact, he was not even part of the designated crowd-management team assigned to the demonstration. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated immediately, and he remains under active suspension facing a high-level departmental inquiry."
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| SIWAN AK-47 FIRING & POLICY FALLOUT |
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| July 25, 2026 | Student protest at J.P. Chowk, Siwan during Bihar bandh. |
| July 25, 2026 | Constable Abhishek Kumar seen on video firing AK-47 at crowd.|
| July 26, 2026 | 3 students hospitalized with gunshot injuries in Patna. |
| Late July | Outrage in Parliament; Opposition demands PM & CM statements. |
| Aug 12, 2026 | Tejashwi Yadav announces statewide mass agitation for Aug 19.|
| Aug 13, 2026 | Bihar DGP issues formal ban on assault rifles in crowd duty. |
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2. The Siwan Video and the Anatomy of the Firing
The incident occurred during a statewide Bihar Bandh called by student organizations at the historic J.P. Chowk in Siwan. Video footage recorded by local bystanders and widely circulated on social media showed Constable Abhishek Kumar stepping out with a standard-issue 7.62mm AK-47 automatic rifle, leveling the barrel, and discharging rounds towards retreating students amidst clouds of tear gas.
Three demonstrators sustained severe bullet and shrapnel injuries and had to be transferred to super-specialty hospitals in Patna for emergency surgical interventions.
While the Siwan district police initially attempted to downplay the incident by claiming no live rounds were fired, the incontrovertible video evidence triggered widespread outrage among human rights bodies and the judiciary.
3. Political Storm Inside Parliament and Nationwide Reaction
The Siwan incident rapidly escalated into a major national political controversy:
- Opposition Uproar in Parliament: Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed stormy scenes as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and Left MPs demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, questioning how military assault rifles were being turned on unarmed Indian youth exercising their constitutional right to protest.
- Tejashwi Yadav’s Campaign: Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav released the unedited video on social media platform X, heavily criticizing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for administrative paralysis. Yadav questioned why criminal charges were not filed against the Siwan Superintendent of Police and announced a massive statewide protest mobilization scheduled for August 19, 2026.
"Shooting at students with AK-47 rifles is an act of sheer barbarism reminiscent of colonial oppression. Suspending a single constable is mere eye-wash while the commanding officers who permitted such deployment walk free." — Tejashwi Yadav, Leader of Opposition, Bihar
4. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Crowd Management
The DGP's order aligns Bihar Police protocols with standard international and Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) crowd-control guidelines:
Graded Use of Force Matrix:
- Level 1 (Verbal Warning & Negotiation): Public address announcements and dialogue with protest leaders.
- Level 2 (Non-Lethal Deterrence): Water cannons, mounted police cordons, and multi-tube tear gas shells.
- Level 3 (Physical Containment): Fiber-glass lathis, cane shields, and physical barricades.
- Level 4 (Non-Lethal Impact Munitions): Rubber bullets, plastic pellets, and stun grenades, deployed strictly below the waist.
- Level 5 (Lethal Force — Extreme Exception): Controlled small-arms fire (.303 or standard pistols) authorized strictly by an on-duty Executive Magistrate only when human life is in imminent danger.
5. Long-Term Police Reforms and Accountability
Civil rights organizations and legal experts have welcomed the weapon prohibition but stressed that substantive police reforms require structural accountability:
- Mandatory body-worn cameras for all officers deployed in public demonstrations.
- Independent civilian oversight panels to investigate all instances of police firing.
- Comprehensive psychiatric evaluations and de-escalation training modules for state constabulary forces.
The Bihar DGP's decisive weapon ban represents a critical step towards modernizing state law enforcement, ensuring that the fundamental constitutional right to peaceful democratic protest is never again met with military firepower.