350 arms licences under scanner

Prayagraj: The district administration is likely to cancel arms licences of around 350 individuals following rising number of cases where licenced weapons were used in crimes.
There are over 42,000 weapon licence holders in the district. Most of them have taken licences by claiming threat to their lives while some have obtained the licences on the grounds of needing a job as security guards.
Names of all such individuals are on the list prepared by the district administration which would now start scrutinising the type of crimes they have been involved in and thereafter the licence would be cancelled. In the last one year, there have been many such incidents in which people have committed crimes after obtaining arm licences. After investigation, reports from the police stations have reached the district magistrate’s court and their hearings are underway. After this, the process of cancelling their arms licence would begin.
Among the cases, which are being carefully scrutinized by the administration, there are cases wherein the licenced weapons were used either in celebratory firing or to settle disputes in land disputes. A senior official of the district administration, on condition of anonymity, said the list has been prepared by the administration as gun licences are issued to anyone as per strict norms and if any violation of the conditions under which the licence have been given take place, the district administration has the right to cancel them.
It is not the first time that the Prayagraj district administration is acting against such persons. The administration had issued orders to cancel 200 licences in the past one-and-a-half years. The fresh list was prepared on the orders of the DM. Decisions in some of these cases have been delivered while the rest are under consideration.