The Bombay high court recently suggested to the state government to re-frame the guidelines, as per a directive by the Election Commission, to individually review cases of weapon licence holders ahead of elections.
What does the court say?
A division bench of justices Abhay Oka and AS Chandurkar, in its order delivered on August 13, said, "The guidelines issued by the home department on August 17, 2009, merely mention the categories of people, such as those released on bail, people having history of criminal offences and people involved in rioting especially during elections. However, the guidelines do not mention that cases of people falling in such categories are required to be reviewed."
Further, the bench said the home department, while issuing the guidelines, has lost sight of the emphasis placed by the EC on the need to review cases of weapon licence holders falling in the categories mentioned.
What does the court want?
Noting that the state has not framed any guidelines whatsoever with regard to the functioning of the screening committee, the bench observed that the same should be attended to and the committee should have access to police records of all the licence holders and must peruse the same.
When and why was the order passed?
The order was passed during the hearing of two petitions, seeking quashing of an order of a district magistrate in Satara directing the petitioners to deposit their weapons in local police stations in view of Lok Sabha elections in May 2014.
The judges noted that there cannot be a blanket order asking licence holders to deposit their weapons in police stations during elections, otherwise, a law-abiding citizen, who has been issued a licence to possess arms, can consider such an order an affront to his dignity and status.
What's next?
The court disposed of both the petitions while asking the state to re-frame the guidelines. In order to report compliance in regard to framing guidelines for functioning of the screening committee, the matter has been posted for hearing on September 22.
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