Madurai

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday sought a response from the Centre and State for a series of questions on illegal possession and use of unlicensed arms.

A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and S. Ramathilagam asked the Centre and State to respond as to how many cases of illegal arms trade were transferred to the National Investigation Agency and their current status. The court also sought a report on such cases pending before the Special Court in Chennai for the last five years.

During the course of hearing, it was pointed out that under Section 6 of The National Investigation Agency Act, 2008, the Central government had the power to suo motu direct the agency to investigate any offence deemed fit for investigation. The State need not refer such cases to the Centre, it was argued.

The court sought the report in two weeks until when the case was adjourned. It also sought a report from the Superintendent of Police, Thoothukudi, after it was informed that a case of illegal arms trade was reported in the region.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by K. Karmegam of Madurai in 2018, who pointed to two instances reported in early 2018 in which illegal arms were recovered in Chennai and Tiruchi. He sought a direction to curb illegal possession and use of unlicensed arms by strictly enforcing the provisions of Arms Act 1959 and Arms Rules 2016.

Despite the Arms Act and subsequent Rules, arms trade was rampant throughout the country. Alleging that influential people were also party to the trade, he said that by engaging centralised investigation agencies such as the NIA and CBI, the nexus behind illegal arms trade could be brought out. All cases dealing with illegal arms trade should be transferred to a centralised agency, he sought.