Nirbheek: Contrary to expectations, men major buyers of short-muzzled revolver priced ₹ 1.35 lakh a piece
By Shailesh Menon
MUMBAI: The hardwood butt jolted the tiny shoulders of 11-year-old Gyaneshwari Singh as a bullet blasted off the smoking muzzle of a Mauser. Yuvraj Mahendra Singh, of the Bilkha royal family in Gujarat, was teaching his daughter the basics of shooting at their palace firing range bordering the Girnar clump.
"The excitement, the fear... Oh God! I did not expect that kind of a recoil," Gyaneshwari reminisces about her first 'assisted' target-practice 26 years ago. "You feel good when you know how to shoot... It's liberating like, maybe, knowing to drive a car. Guns make you feel you're in power," says Gyaneshwari, whose arms collection now includes a deadly 12 bore rifle and two pistols — a 0.22 and a 410. "Girls should be taught about using guns... It's a great weapon for self-protection, much like Karate or any other martial art," she adds.
This precisely was the reason Indian Ordnance Factory (IOF) launched 'Nirbheek', a 0.32 calibre revolver, in 2014 — about two years after the 'Nirbhaya' incident. Billed as India's first "firearm for women", Nirbheek weighs just over 500 gm, and the short-muzzled revolver packs faultlessly inside a women's clutch or handbag.
Since its introduction, IOF has sold more than 3,000 Nirbheek revolvers, priced about Rs 1.35 lakh apiece, to gun licence holders in the country. In absolute terms, the sales figures may appear small, but considering the limited number of gun licences issued across Indian states, any civilian firearm selling over a thousand units is considered a blockbuster. An email sent to IOF seeking data on sales figures had elicited no response at the time of going to press.
WHO ARE THE BUYERS?
Ironically, this revolver that comes in a decorative velvet box, is being purchased by men. If dealer logs are to be believed, just over a 100 Nirbheek revolvers have been sold to women gun-licence holders to date. "The reason could be the lower number of women gun-licence holders," says a Delhi-based IOF gun dealer. "Only about 3-5% of Nirbheek's owners would be women...," acknowledges Prasad Kulkarni, proprietor of Gunmark Armoury, a Pune-based weapon retailer.
MOST ORDERS FROM PUNJAB, GUJARAT, UP
"State police departments are not issuing new gun licences anymore... Only states sharing international borders are giving out new licences, and that too after a rigorous application and individual vetting process," says Kulkarni of Gunmark Armoury.
According to IOF officials, most Nirbheek orders come from Punjab, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh: India's most populous state accounts for almost half of India's 26 lakh gun licences, and has the dubious distinction of topping the charts for gun crimes. The applicants are mostly politicians or businessmen. Among women buyers, many are sarpanches, business women, members of erstwhile royal families, and a few doctors and lawyers.
NOT THE CHEAPEST DEAL
For a three-year-old locally made firearm, the Nirbheek is considered expensive. At launch, it was sold at Rs 1.22 lakh, and the price of each revolver has risen about 10% since its introduction. "Nirbheek is an expensive gun in its category... A normal person may not want to spend that kind of money for a firearm," says Milan Soni, owner of Ahmedabad-based Smit Gunhouse. "Buyers also have the option to choose from other variants... 0.32 MK-3 and MK-4 revolvers are available for much less."
According to dealers, affluent clients would always prefer to buy an Italian or German handgun instead of a locally made revolver. Now that the government has restricted the import of foreign handguns, the second-hand foreign firearms market is thriving. Foreign-made handguns are traded at prices ranging from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 12 lakh. This, in a way, creates room for Nirbheek to sell more to the 'not-so-brand-conscious' consumers. "Nirbheek is a decent gun for self-protection... It is lightweight, when compared with a normal iron-make revolver that weighs more than 900 gm," Soni explains. That said, a few dealers believe, repairing a Nirbheek could be difficult as it bears a titanium alloy body. In case of a crack or breakage, gunsmiths may find it difficult to melt and remake the alloy body, they say.
TOUGH NUT TO CRACK
But weapons experts are unwilling to buy this argument. According to them, Nirbheek may not crack under "easy circumstances" as it comes to the market after a "3-ton blast test" (a test conducted to verify the blast strength of the gun). "The quality of Indian guns is improving, but it is still light years behind foreign firearms. The quality of machining and technology matters in gunsmithy. Nirbheek could be a good gun for self-protection," says Ishwar Singh, a Gujarat state shooting medalist and husband of Gyaneshwari Singh. "Nirbheek should have been a pistol instead of a revolver... A pistol is more handy and effective for personal protection," Ishwar Singh adds. The 'waiting period' for the delivery of a Nirbheek revolver is 30-45 days, if requisitioned directly from the Ordnance Factory (Kanpur). At dealer level, the delay could be as long as three-four months.
