Punjab’s craze for gun: Close to 3.5 lakh civilians own arm licence in state

The official data accessed by The Indian Express reveals that former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s bastion Patiala district tops with 48,485 registered weapons against 28,311 arms licences; while Moga, the home district of slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, is close second with 44,862 registered weapons against 26,756 arms licences. Bathinda district is at number three with 37,645 weapons registered against a total of 29,267 licences in the district.

The report contains the district-wise details of arms licences and the weapons in Punjab, following the digitisation of the information from mid-October 2015 under the National Database of Arms Licences (NDAL). This data has been compiled as a part of an action-taken report on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s orders to curb the gun culture in the state. The district-wise data was updated as on January 31.

Nawanshahr district in NRI Doaba belt of Punjab has the least number of registered weapons (2,877 against 2,460 licences), followed by Pathankot (3,350 weapons against 2,990 licences) and Malerkotla (3,825 against 3,430 licences).

One RTI query, different replies

Through a Right to Information (RTI) Act query dated October 19, 2022, The Indian Express sought information from the Punjab Home Department about the details of arms licences issued across the state over the past 10 years. It got a reply which directed competent authorities in the districts to provide the information.

Intriguingly, while some of the districts provided the year-wise data pertaining to arms licences issued in the past 10 years, there were districts which circumvented the RTI Act queries on grounds that the data could not be provided under the Act and that it was not compiled. Several districts did not bother to respond to the RTI query even after more than three months.

While Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav did not respond despite several attempts made to contact him, Chief Secretary V K Janjua replied through a text message on WhatsApp. “I will direct them to provide information. Let me know the districts,” Janjua said. A top Punjab police officer who did not wish to be quoted said that it was a quasi-judicial procedure and hence the district chiefs have the discretion whether to supply the information sought under the RTI Act or not.

The office of Sangrur Deputy Commissioner, in its response to the RTI query, said, “From the year 2012 to 2019, due to manual issuance of arms licences, the information is not available and it is impossible to prepare it from registers. Besides this, as per sub-clauses of the RTI Act, no information can be given by preparing it.”

In contrast, however, the Arms Licences wing of Amritsar Police Commissionerate provided year-wise details of arms licences issued between 2013 and 2022. So did the office of the Mohali district magistrate.

The office of the Ferozepur district magistrate provided information from the year 2000 to 2022, going beyond the ten-year period mentioned in the RTI application.

The office of the Hoshiarpur deputy commissioner said that as per the official records, the number of arms licences issued in the district was 2,589. However, as per internal and departmental official records accessed by The Indian Express, as on January 31, as many as 10,008 weapons were registered against 8,708 Arms licences in the Hoshiarpur district.

As per amended rules a few years ago, any arms licence holder can hold a maximum of two weapons against a licence. Earlier, a licence holder was permitted to have three weapons on one licence.

The office of Faridkot deputy commissioner in its reply to The Indian Express RTI query wrote that “information sought was in the form of question and hence cannot be supplied under the RTI Act”. The office of the Ludhiana district magistrate gave information relating to four police stations namely Dakha, Jodhan, Sudhar and Hanoor.

The gun fad among Punjabi women

Official documents as of November last year revealed that the craze to own firearms was not limited to men alone. In Punjab’s Malwa bastion Bathinda alone, 460 women have a licence and own 494 weapons, as per the official records.

Several women in other Punjab districts hold the licence.

Social media was last year abuzz with woman sarpanch (village head) of Darba Kalan village in Sirsa where she is seen firing gunshots in rhyme over noted Punjabi singer Babbu Maan’s song ‘Mitran nu shauq hathyaran da’ (We (read friends) are fond of weapons). After the celebratory firing, she was booked after the post went viral.