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Journalism of Courage
July 7: The Bombay High Court has directed the police not to cancel the arms licence of Shahnawaz Ahmed Khursheed Ahmed before giving him a hearing.The division bench of Justice Ashok Agarwal and S D Gundewar ruled that “unless Ahmed has incurred some disability or rendered himself ineligible to continue to hold the licence, it will not be open to the licencing authority to revoke the licence.”
The ruling said police authorities are free to issue a show-cause notice, in accordance with law, and then proceed to pass appropriate orders. However, they cannot decide this unilaterally. “The present case, it must be remembered, is not a case for grant of a fresh license. It is a case for revocation of a licence.”
The ruling further states that if the proposed action is taken by the police within four to 12 weeks (from June 24), Ahmed will be entitled to renewal of his licence and return of arms surrendered earlier.
Ahmed was granted a licence under the Arms Act, 1959, in Hyderabad by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. In 1992, he shifted business and residence to Mumbai. He applied for a change of the licence registration details. He deposited the weapons (one .32 bore revolver, one .315 bore rifle and one .12 bore gun) at the Pydhonie police station. However, the Assistant Police Commissioner cancelled the licence without according a hearing to Ahmed. The only reason provided was that “licencing authority deems it necessary for the security of the public peace or for public safety to suspend or revoke the licence…” Aggrieved by this decision, Ahmed approached the state government. As per the February 1997 government order, Ahmed “did not have cogent reason to keep any arms for self-protection.”Ahmed challenged both the orders in the High Court. The court quashed both these rulings.
