Examine the need for standard operating procedures on arms deployment for state police forces in law-and-order situations, with reference to recent controversies.

Section 148 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 empowers police to disperse an unlawful assembly by civil force, but is silent on which weapon may be carried or fired [1]. Recent firing controversies show that this statutory silence, filled only by uneven state police manuals, is now a live governance risk.

What recent controversies expose

• In Siwan, Bihar, during NEET-UG paper-leak protests, a constable fired four rounds from an AK-47 into the air; another officer used a 9mm pistol, and three protesters suffered minor firearm injuries [2].
• Bihar Police's own affidavit to the Supreme Court classifies the AK-47 as a "platoon-level weapon for special operations" — an admission of a weapon-allocation failure at the armoury stage, not merely individual indiscipline [2].
• Corrective action was reactive: suspension of the constable and fresh DGP instructions on AK-47 use issued only afterwards, with the Court seized of pleas alleging police excess [2].

Why codified SOPs are necessary

• Legal proportionality: BNSS mandates minimum force, but without a graded escalation ladder — warning, lathi, water cannon, less-lethal, aimed fire — "minimum" stays subjective and unreviewable [1].
• Capability gap: BPR&D's study on less-lethal weapons found state forces lack suitable equipment and matching operating procedures and training for public agitation [3].
• Accountability: the Second ARC's Fifth Report, Public Order, and the Prakash Singh directives sought insulated, reviewable policing; SOPs give complaint authorities an objective yardstick [4][5].
• Rights balance: protesters exercising Article 19(1)(b) freedoms face force calibrated to no written standard, and inter-state variance makes redress arbitrary.

Recent incidents are less a story of one constable than of missing institutional rules on who carries what, when. A binding, MHA-issued model SOP — weapon classification by duty type, mandatory less-lethal escalation, body-camera recording, and automatic magisterial and ballistic review of every firing — would align policing with the minimum-force principle. Codifying restraint, rather than pleading it after the event, is how public order and constitutional liberty are secured together.