Centre plans to amend Arms Act
■ Makers of illegal guns to face life term under new law
New Delhi, Oct. 10: Makers of “prohibited” arms illegally and those carrying such guns may soon have to spend the remainder of their life in jail if convicted under a new law proposed by the Union home ministry.
According to the draft Arms (Amendment) Bill, anyone possessing more than two licensed guns will have to deposit the third one with authorities as the government is planning to ban the practice of granting multiple licences to an individual.
The Centre is also planning to double the punishments stipulated in the Arms Act, enacted six decades ago, a home ministry official said.
The draft of the proposed law covers areas like 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.
As per the draft bill, the government is planning to amend Section 25 (1AA) of the Arms Act, 1959, to give punishment from the usual life term of 14 years to “imprisonment for the remainder of that person's life” for manufacturing, selling, repairing and possessing “prohibited” arms. The minimum punishment under this section will be 14 years.
Under the present law, the offence invites imprisonment not be less than seven years but may extend to life imprisonment — mostly up to 14 years.
According to an estimate, India has a total of around 35 lakh gun licences. Thirteen lakh people have licences to carry weapons in UP, followed by militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir, where 3.7 lakh people possess arms licences, most of which were taken in the name of personal security.
Punjab has around 3.6 lakh active gun licences, most of which were issued during the two decades wherein militancy had engulfed the state.
Section 25 (6) is being proposed to be incorporated in the amendment under which a minimum punishment of 10 years in prison and a maximum punishment of life imprisonment till death will be prescribed for using “prohibited” arms or ammunition by members of an organised crime syndicate, the official said.