Norms to issue Arms licences given a go-by

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 4

Putting aside all stringent guidelines, over 1.15 lakh arms licences have been issued for non-prohibited bore (NPB) weapons in the state in the last few years.

One of the main guidelines for issuance of arms licence is to obtain the police verification and without approval from the Police Department, no licence can be issued. However, most of the arms licences have been issued in the state bypassing the police verification process.

Sources in the Police Department told The Tribune that Deputy Commissioners, who were also district magistrates, have issued arms licenses as per their whims and fancies and haven’t gone for police verifications before issuing the same. “One such example is of Udhampur district where during the past five years, over 12,000 gun licences have been issued by different district magistrates without obtaining the police verification,” said a source. As per the Union Home Ministry order dated March 31, 2010, guidelines/instructions have been issued for grant of arms licences.

Para (a) of these guidelines clearly mention, “Applications for the grant of the NPB arms licence may be considered from person who may face or perceive grave and imminent threat to their lives, for which licensing authority will obtain an assessment of the threat faced by the person from the police authorities.”

But the authorities concerned in Udhampur district have put aside these guidelines and granted arms licences without police verification.

“During the past five years, the police received around 1,500 applications online, of which only a dozen applications were given a go-ahead and the district magistrate was advised to grant the gun licence to these persons who have threat and can handle arms. Now, the question is that how over 12,000 gun licences have been issued without following the proper guidelines and without obtaining police verification?” the source added.

The police in Udhampur are mulling the option of holding an inquiry into this gun license scam and lodge FIRs against people who have issued these licenses without obtaining the verification report from the Police Department.

This is not the isolated case where rules have been flouted. There are many other districts where the number of gun licences issued are much higher and have been issued without following the Union Home Ministry guidelines.