‘Hope Jantar Mantar students don’t spend 2 years rebuilding like I did’: Shambhu pellet survivor

The small farmer from Shekhupur village in Patiala’s Ghanaur, who owns less than five acres of land, was 22 when security personnel fired pellets to stop farmers marching towards Delhi. One pellet struck his left eye. He was rushed to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, where doctors told him the eye could not be saved.

More than two years later, Davinder says the loss continues to shape every aspect of his life.

“I have only single-eye vision now. It is a huge problem. I have to suffer because of the pellet injuries that the security forces of my own country used to deter me,” he said.

The physical injury was only the beginning.

“The doctor’s declaration was a bolt out of the blue. The injury changed the course of my life. I wanted to study, but I could not complete it. I still get panic attacks. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night shivering. I feel pressure where my left eye was whenever I work in the fields. I cannot bear the sunlight. It has affected my nerves too. I am still on medication,” he said.

Davinder had completed his graduation and was pursuing an MA in Sociology at Punjabi University, Patiala, when the injury derailed his plans. He never returned to complete the course.

Today, his routine revolves around farming, medical consultations and learning to live with vision in one eye.

Doctors have advised him to get a prosthetic eye, but he says the procedure is beyond his financial means.

“They told me it would cost lakhs. I cannot afford it. I will wait until I earn enough,” he said.

Despite his circumstances, Davinder refuses offers of financial assistance.

“I do not want money from anyone. I just want security forces not to use pellet guns on protesting students. These guns leave debilitating injuries. It is inhuman to use them.”

He says the injury has also affected his confidence and daily functioning. Ordinary tasks demand greater effort. Farming has become more difficult, and he claims to experience memory loss and occasional blackouts, which he attributes to the head injury he sustained along with the loss of his eye.

“I have memory loss. There are blackouts and I am waiting for the treatment to get over,” he said.

The trauma has also forced him to put personal milestones on hold.

“I am not thinking of getting married. Right now, I have to deal with this,” he said.

Even so, Davinder has remained active in public life. In the December 2025 panchayat elections, he contested as an Independent candidate and was elected sarpanch of his village, defeating his nearest rival by 106 votes in a village of around 750 voters.

“I used to be with the Aam Aadmi Party, but I quit. People voted for me because I had worked as a social activist and was associated with the Kisan Andolan,” he said.

His parents have stood by him through the years, but he says recovery remains incomplete.

“Every night, the memories return. Every day, I adjust to life with one eye. More than two years after the pellet struck me, the biggest battle is no longer the one at the border. It is the one I fight within me.”

The images from Jantar Mantar, he says, reopened wounds he has never fully overcome.

“When I learnt about the use of pellet guns on students in Delhi, I was heartbroken. They have not learnt any lessons. They should have learnt from what happened to us,” he said.

For Davinder, the appeal is simple.

“I just want that no one else has to go through this.”