HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD Court No. - 28 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 39510 of 2005 Petitioner :- Rajiv Kumar Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru' D.M. & Others Petitioner Counsel :- N.K. Singh Respondent Counsel :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Sudhir Agarwal,J.
1. Heard Sri N.K.Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for the respondents and perused the record.
2. The petitioner's gun license has been cancelled by means of the impugned order dated 6th October, 2004 observing that petitioner has misused the same by firing during wedding ceremony and the appeal of petitioner has been rejected by another impugned order dated 19th November, 2004.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that in para 6 of his reply to the show cause notice he had categorically stated that he did not open fire during wedding ceremony/procession therefore, impugned orders are bad.
4. However, from the record it is evident that the said reply has been rejected by District Magistrate in cancellation order observing that the petitioner had actually fired during wedding ceremony/procession and this finding has not been challenged in the entire writ petition.
5. A gun/arm license, issued to a person for personal security/safety, cannot/could not be used during wedding ceremony/procession or for other ceremonial affairs. Time and again such kind of misuse has resulted in several injuries and sometimes fatal to the persons participating/celebrating such occasions. This Court take judicial notice of the fact that this kind of incidents are happening very frequent and are being reported regularly in media (electronic/print). Firing gun shots in function/ceremonies by some people is treated to be a status symbol and a manner of showing their degree of happiness without realizing that it may cause a serious injury or accident to the people and damage to the premises where gun shots are fired. It may convert a place of ceremony into a place of condolence and grief. This is a serious menace but unfortunately going on unabated particularly where the people in power are involved. Probably, for this reason, the local police and law enforcement authority also used to sit tight in such matters. Very rarely we see some kind of interference at the hand of these authorities. Inaction and laxity on the part of police i.e. law enforcement authority in regulating/controlling such activities is proving a catalyst for widening this disease. Time has come when such cases ought to be dealt with more strictly and with stiff action so that such blatant misuse of firearms may not take place. The authorities should not hesitate in cancelling firearm license, if used for such purposes, whether in private premises or in public. The Secretary Home, U.P. and Director General of Police need to take immediate steps in this regard by issuing necessary guidelines/instruction for effective action in such matters.
6. In the present case, respondent No.1 in cancelling the gun license, in my view, has not committed any error. In fact he has taken steps which ought to be appreciated. Learned counsel for the petitioner has not averred in the entire writ petition that findings recorded by District Magistrate about misuse of fire arm is perverse or contrary to record.
7. In the absence of anything, I do not find any error apparent on record in the two impugned orders warranting interference. The writ petition is therefore lacks merit.
8. Dismissed.
Order Date :- 18.4.2011 KA