13 weapons still missing, Punjab and Haryana High Court calls for affidavit on action taken

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Chandigarh, September 3

Just over six months after the Punjab Government was admonished for sorry state of affairs after noticing that a carbine went missing from the state armoury, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asserted that details were not forthcoming regarding 13 such weapons and the action taken against officials responsible for their custody.

Underscoring the importance of accountability and transparency in ensuring the safety and security of crucial law enforcement assets, Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj also called for an affidavit by a special investigation team looking into the matter. For the purpose, a four-week deadline was set. As the issue came up for resumed hearing, Justice Bhardwaj observed an affidavit had been filed by Karanveer Singh, SP, Bureau of Investigation-cum-member of State-level special investigation team, constituted to trace missing weapons, in compliance with order issued on March 16.

Among other things, it said only one of the 14 weapons stated to be missing was recovered. “No details are forthcoming as regards the 13 remaining weapons, the description of the weapon, the date since when they went missing and the action taken by the state against the officials responsible for their custody of and the steps taken to ensure their recovery,” Justice Bhardwaj asserted.

Before parting with the case, Justice Bhardwaj warned that failure to provide the requisite information within the stipulated time-frame would result in Rs 50,000 costs to be deposited by the office of the DGP with the High Court Legal Services Committee.

Justice Bhardwaj was hearing a petition filed against the state of Punjab and other respondents by Daljit Singh through counsel SS Salar. “The present case reflects the sorry state of affairs where a M1 carbine has gone missing from the state armoury and the authorities have filed evasive response about their inability to trace out the weapon,” Justice Bhardwaj had asserted on a previous date of hearing.

In his detailed order, Justice Bhardwaj had observed a status report filed by the Tarn Taran SSP merely showed that the weapon in question had been originally licensed to one Subedar Major Malawa Singh. It was undisputedly deposited with the Tarn Taran city police station.

He had added the allegation was that one Bakhshish Singh removed the weapon in a clandestine manner. The final report in the matter had also been filed. But the weapon had not been recovered.