6 months on, 12 weapons still missing from Punjab armoury

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, September 21

Over six months have lapsed since the Punjab Government was admonished for the sorry state of affairs after noticing that a carbine went missing from the state armoury, a special investigating team (SIT) has been able to recover only one more missing weapon. In all, only two weapons have been recovered so far.

Constituted for the recovery of missing weapons from the armoury, the SIT has so far succeeded in tracing another three. As the matter came up for resumed hearing before Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj’s Bench, Additional Advocate-General Saurav Verma made “strenuous efforts” to establish that the SIT had been taking initiative. He further submitted that “all strenuous efforts would be made to effect the recovery of the other missing weapons as well”.

Fixing the matter for further hearing in the third week of December, Justice Bhardwaj asserted: “A status report with respect to the missing weapons shall be affirmatively filed within the period with copy in advance to the counsel for the petitioner.”

Justice Bhardwaj had earlier asserted that details were not forthcoming as regards 13 weapons and the action taken against the officials responsible for their custody.

Underscoring the importance of accountability and transparency in ensuring the safety and security of crucial law enforcement assets, Justice Bhardwaj had observed that an affidavit had been filed by Karanveer Singh, Superintendent of Police, Bureau of Investigation-cum-member of state-level special investigation team (SIT), constituted to trace missing weapons, in compliance with order dated March 16.

Among other things, the SIT, at that point in time, said that only one of the 14 weapons stated to be missing had been recovered. “No details are forthcoming as regards the 13 remaining weapons, the description of the weapons, the date since when these had been missing and the action taken by the state against the officials responsible for the custody of the said weapons and the steps taken to ensure their recovery,” Justice Bhardwaj had asserted.

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 an M1 carbine has gone missing from the state armoury and the authorities have filed evasive response about their inability to trace the weapon,” Justice Bhardwaj had asserted on a previous date of hearing.

File status report

A status report with respect to the missing weapons shall be affirmatively filed within the period (third week of December, when next hearing will be held) with a copy in advance to the counsel for the petitioner. — Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj, Punjab and Haryana High Court