MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the state government to conduct swift and thorough investigation in cases involving possession and sale of unlicensed firearms by following the procedures under the Arms Act, 1959, without any lapses. A Bench of justices R Mahadevan and J Sathya Narayana Prasad, in a recent order, observed that the number of illegal arms trade cases, registered so far, stands testimony to the fact that illegal sale of firearms is thriving and will be a menace to the society if left unchecked. The judges directed the director general of police to continuously monitor the sale or possession of unlicensed arms.
The order was passed on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2018 by an advocate K Karmegam of Madurai, seeking direction to transfer the illegal arms cases in Tamil Nadu to the NIA and CBI. Karmegam referred to a case in which three persons, including a police constable, were arrested on charges of illegal transportation of unlicensed pistols in Guwahati Express in January 2018. Alleging that even top politicians were involved in the case, Karmegam said a state investigation agency cannot conduct an impartial probe.
However, the additional public prosecutor contended that the state police are competent to deal with illegal arms trade cases and that the petitioner is seeking transfer of investigation without pointing out any lapses on the part of the investigating agency.
The judges observed that there are many instances of crimes involving use of unlicensed firearms of late, and said it should be curtailed. “It is, no doubt, true that proliferation of unlicensed arms trade or illegal possession of arms, if goes unchecked, will be a threat to the security and the interest of the nation. Before issuing arms license, the authority concerned should ensure proper verification of the applicants’ antecedents as per Sections 7 to 10 of the Arms Act, which prohibits possession of arms by certain class of persons, the judges added.
Holding that the status reports filed by the police prima facie show that the investigation in the cases are being conducted in an appropriate manner, the Bench did not grant the petitioner’s request, instead issued the above directions.