Vests can’t keep out automatic rifle bullets: govt

The state government’s comments came in response to a public interest litigation filed in the Bombay High Court by an activist who has alleged fraud in the purchase of the jackets,leading to sub-standard jackets being acquired by the police. Vinita Kamte,the widow of Ashok Kamte,said she would not comment on the issue unless she read the documents,when asked for her comment on the government’s stand with reference to the panel. In an affidavit filed in the case on Wednesday,DCP Vijaysingh Jadhav told the court that the jackets could only stop bullets from 9 mm pistols and carbines. The vests are designed only to protect vital parts of the body and Karkare’s post-mortem report had shown that the bullets had pierced his neck and shoulders that were not shielded,he said,adding that “there is no bulletproof jacket available in the global market which guarantees 100 per cent protection to human life.”

The affidavit said the jackets had been tested by three panels of police officers and one of them included then DCP Kamte,DCP NH Chavan and ACP SM Sayed. This panel tested the vests supplied by NTB Hi-Tech Ceramics under certain parameters and found they “can block bullet of AK-47 and 7.62 SLR with a slight bulge developing on rear side of the plate. Hence it may give protection against AK-47 assault rifle and 7.62 SLR.”

Two more committees tested sample jackets on May 14,2003 and December 18,2003. The second committee of then DCPs Ritesh Kumar and Himanshu Roy and ACP Uddhav Kamble had observed that the sample vests were unfit for protection from AK-47 and SLR under the conditions of that test.

Roy,Kamble and then DCP SE Shinde again tested samples in December 2003 and said they found the vests could block bullets from AK-47 and SLR with slight and significant bulge in the rear but under different conditions than their previous test.

Jadhav said the government went ahead and procured the jackets after these tests and the vests were once again submitted to tests and found satisfactory. The 2004 panel of Roy,Shinde and ACP Surinder Kumar said the vest provides protection only in the ballistic plate area when it comes to blocking an AK-47 bullet.

“Limited use,no protection from the rear if reinforced plate is not used,” the committee observed. As for SLR,the committee found that the jacket does not provide protection and provides only limited protection from a 9 mm carbine while it provides full protection from 9 mm pistol and .38 revolvers. Jadhav said the shelf life of the jackets was more than five years and the jackets in question were procured in 2004. “No one anticipated in March 2001,the kind of situation which arose in the city on November 26,2008.”