The Madhya Pradesh High Court has said that, prima facie, neither the Arms Act nor the Rules provide for converting a sports category firearm licence into a self-defence licence, and has quashed the cancellation of a Bhopal licence holder’s licence.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court at Indore has set aside the indefinite suspension of a retired Army man’s arms licence, holding that the licensing authority recorded no satisfaction under Section 17(3) of the Arms Act and that registration of a criminal case alone cannot justify suspension.
A Delhi court sentenced Bihar BJP MLA Raju Kumar Singh to four years’ simple imprisonment and imposed a Rs 25 lakh fine in the 2018 celebratory firing case that killed a woman. He was also awarded two months’ imprisonment under the Arms Act for licence violations.
The Patna High Court ruled that applicants need not prove any threat to life or property to seek an arms licence, saying the Arms Act imposes no such condition. It granted relief to a man awaiting a rifle licence since 2014.
