The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Punjab government authorities and the state Chief Electoral Officer on a PIL challenging a blanket order passed by local police to deposit firearms owned by license holders during elections. I asked for an answer.
bench Acting Chief Justice GS Sandawalia and Justice Lapita Banerjee has issued notices to the Government of Punjab, Chief Electoral Officer of the State, Director General of Police Punjab, Deputy Commissioner Barnala, SSP Barnala and SHO.
Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Barnala in Punjab state, has filed a complaint in the High Court alleging that local police “pressured” him to hand over firearms in the name of general elections without any written notice or order.
A blanket order was reportedly passed to deposit firearms during the election period as it was impossible to assess a “personal license”.
“The whole process of escrowing arms has a colonial legacy, based on the former distrust of the colonial masters towards the natives after the 1857 Rebellion, and the independence of legally valid license holders. “Such an attitude after that is not justified.” the petition added.
“Punjab has less than 400,000 arms licenses, which is a tiny fraction compared to states like Uttar Pradesh, which has more than three times as many arms licenses and one-third of the total number of arms licenses in the country,” the petition said. states.
Reliance can be placed on the recent judgment of the Allahabad High Court in Ravi Shankar Tiwari and others v. State of UP.Through civil matters including district judge Amethi. [Writ Number 2844 of 2024] There, a “blanket order was made to hand over weapons as being evil from the point of view of the law.”
In light of the foregoing, petitioners are asking state officials to “not force petitioners and similarly situated persons to surrender firearms to local law enforcement over the telephone during elections.”
It is pertinent to mention that recently the Kerala High Court directed the Review Committee to reconsider orders issued under the Arms Act directing license holders to surrender their weapons.
While allowing the petition, a single judge bench of Justice N. Nagaresh wrote, “Comprehensive directions calling for surrender of arms unless surrender of arms is reasonably necessary in view of the conditions provided by the Election Commission. That’s impossible,” he said.
The matter was adjourned until May 8 for further consideration.
Rishu Garg, learned counsel for the petitioner.
Title: Gurpreet Singh vs. State of Punjab and Ors.
