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Court rules firearm licences cannot be suspended indefinitely

The Allahabad high court has ruled that the licence to possess firearms cannot be suspended indefinitely.

The court said the right to carry arms for self-defence is an integral part of Article 21 of the Constitution, which includes the right to protection of life and property.

Unless it is found that the weapon has been used in a heinous crime or that the licence-holder was involved in such crime, the licence should not be impounded or cancelled, the court said.

It was responding to an earlier decision of the court in the Ganesh Chandra Bhatt vs District Magistrate, Almora, and Others case.

Allowing the writ petition of Madhu Prasad Srivastava, Justice U P Garg quashed the order of the Jalaun district magistrate and commissioner, Jhansi division, who had respectively suspended Srivastava's licence and dismissed his appeal.

Srivastava was granted a licence to possess a firearm, but the licence was suspended by the district magistrate till a final decision in a criminal case against him.

Srivastava was charged with using his rifle in a crime registered under sections 147, 148, 149, 307 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, none of which covers a "heinous" crime.

UNI

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