FIREARM LAWS MAY GET MORE STRINGENT

KOLKATA:The Union home ministry has proposed stringent punishment, including jail till death, for those illegally manufacturing “prohibited” arms, and for members of crime syndicates carrying such arms, in the proposed changes in the Indian Arms Act, 1959, according to senior officials familiar with the matter.

One of the officials cited above, privy to discussions on the proposed changes, said on condition of anonymity that the quantum of punishment for most offences has been doubled in the proposed Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

The draft of the proposed law, reviewed by HT, covers five new areas -- illegal trafficking of arms, tracking arms and their components from manufacturers to end users, organised crime, organised crime syndicates, and celebratory firing --- with varying punishment for these offences.

Under penal provisions, the ministry has sought to amend Section 25 (1AA) of the Act, to give a punishment from the usual life term of 14 years to “imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural life” for manufacturing, selling, repairing and possessing prohibited arms. The draft says that minimum punishment under this section will be 14 years; under the current law, the minimum punishment is 7 years and the maximum is 10. The ministry has also proposed a new section, 25 (6), with a minimum punishment of 10 years in prison and maximum punishment of life imprisonment till death for using prohibited fire arms or ammunition by members of organised crime syndicate. HTC