Hi All, I am preparing the following draft, placing here for your inputs all reading this. You may also like to refer
http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php ... 834#p91834 Thank you all for your compliments. My intention is for you to provide especially negative comments, so that future problems can be foreseen as far as possible and it can be improved upon, eliminating any legal holes in it:
:
:..PETITIONER
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA
THROUGH ITS SECRETARY
MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
NORTH BLOCK
NEW DELHI-110 001 ….RESPONDENT
TO
THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA
AND HIS COMPANION JUSTICES OF THE
HON’BLE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
The humble petition of PIL of the Petitioner above named
MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH:
I submit the request for PIL. The immediate cause for PIL is the order by the Centre directing that all licensed weapons in the NCR should be deposited at least six months before the start of the games and apprehension that similar illegal, unconstitutional orders, notifications, directives, policies, practices maybe in force by government about acquisition, possession and carrying of legal firearms that directly and/or indirectly infringe upon the Right to Private Defense as allowed by sections 96 to 106 Indian Penal Code, leading to violation of Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and Right to Freedom to Move freely and Travel under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.
REFERENCE:
a)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20100102/81 ... on-of.html
b)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20091218/10 ... ed-ar.html
c)
http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/Articl ... rd=&mode=1
d)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 525951.cms
e)
http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8412
f)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumb ... 060885.cms
g)
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/12/ ... un_co.html
h)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/a ... 24230.html
By asking all the licensed firearm holders to submit their firearms even when there are no valid cases related to the misuse of firearms by them and similar orders, notifications, directives, policies, practices followed by government which create hardships for acquisition, possession, carrying of legal firearms I feel the following are being violated by government:
(1) The very purpose of acquiring and keeping legal firearms for self protection is getting defeated. There are already provisions under current law to prevent misuse of firearms. For example, under law ( as per CrPC) where there is a known conflict between two or more parties, the Investigating Officer/ the Station House Officer, if he so suspects that the parties may misuse the firearms held by them for violence, he can order all involved parties to deposit their arms. There are more than enough provisions under the IPC, CrPC as well the Arms Act itself that are more than sufficient to prevent and/ or penalise the misuse of arms, what is needed is better enforcement by police. Also in case of any wrong doing or misuse of the licensed arms and ammunition, the licensing authority is authorised take action at any point of time. Therefore such orders, notifications, directives, policies, practices are superfluous and specious.
(2) By asking all those who have no valid case against them for misuse of legal firearms for self defense to be deposited, the rights to private defense as allowed by Section 96 to Section 106 of the Indian Penal Code are getting infringed. And this very act of government by rendering the citizens weak and incapable of effectively defending themselves, is a violation of right to life as guaranteed by our Constitution's article 21.
(3) By this order, the government by asking to deposit all legally held firearms, is rendering the law abiding citizens weak and incapable of defending themselves against random violent crime by all manner of criminals, who by the very nature of their business keep themselves always fully armed with all sorts of illegal weapons. Government is indirectly saying that the citizens do not have the inalienable right to protect their life and property. Hence the violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India by the above order is clearly established. Government is also violating the Right to Freedom of Movement and Travel as per Article 19 of the Constitution of India by making the citizens not to move or travel, at times and places where they think fit only to travel in armed condition to keep themselves protected in case need to enforce their right to private defense arises. Hence violation of of Right to Freedom to Move freely and Travel as per Article 19 of the Constitution of India is also established.
(4) Government is making an assumption that all legal firearm owners are prone to misuse their weapons, which is an affront to the law abiding citizens keeping legal firearms as per the law and for the law. The contention of the government that those firearms may be misused by citizens is also a blur upon them. There have been documented incidents in which some individuals in the police have misused their firearms and acted against the law and only those individuals have been dealt/are being dealt accordingly by the law. Has the government expressed doubts about integrity of all the policemen and also given similar blanket orders to disarm all the policemen to prevent further misuse of firearms? Just like the police, citizens are also keeping legal firearms for enforcement of the law i.e. when faced with conditions as mentioned in sections 96 to 106 of Indian Penal Code, the citizen immediately takes help of his/her rights to defense as allowed by these sections and enforces the law with the use of his/her firearm, then why tarnish and insult the integrity of all the citizens who have taken the legal route to keep firearms? Or the government contends that police and rest of all the citizens are answerable to different set of policies and laws for the same offense?
(5) By this order and similar such orders, notifications, directives, policies, practices
government is making an assumption that all manner of criminals conducting violent crime are fully and only dependent on legally held firearms, hence if legal firearm holders are divested of the possession of firearms, the problem of crime will be automatically controlled. Whereas the data and facts are just exactly the opposite. To illustrate I will take the latest data available at the website of National Crime Records Bureau (
http://ncrb.nic.in/cii2007/cii-2007/Chapters.htm) and take statistics for murder from Chapter 3 Page 8 Table 3 G since it is one of the most violent form of crime. 85.53% of all murders committed were using means and weapons other than firearms (blunt & sharp edged weapons etc.). 12.68% of murders were committed using unlicensed firearms. 1.79% of murders were committed using a licensed firearm. The government by this order is trying to create a wrong impression and false sense of security by only keeping the law abiding disarmed. The legal firearms have been issued as per the law, for enforcement of the law, hence by divesting the legal possession of firearms from their owners, the government is endangering the lives of not only the owners in particular but also the people near them. The criminals do not commit crime by deciding if they have legal or illegal weapons in their hands, instead they are attracted to opportunity, by keeping only the law abiding citizens disarmed the government is giving a clear message along with the dates to criminals, that opportunity exists, that all the law abiding will be rendered defenseless by divesting their arms, turned into “soft targets” and they will be able to carry on their business with confidence, without any fear of any credible resistance from their victims to enforce their rights of private defense.
(6) The government is equating all legal firearm owners with criminals, which is an affront to the law abiding firearm license holders. Such orders, notifications, directives, policies, practices create an impression in the society that all legal firearm holders are not law abiding and respectable citizens who are with the law, to enforce the law but belong to category of people with criminal antecedents and propensities.
(7) The government by this order and similar orders, policies and practices is going against the very principles and objectives of Arms Act, on basis of which firearm licenses have been legally issued/ are supposed to be issued. The stated objectives of the Arms Act, which amongst others states as two of it's primary objectives to be “(b)(ii) that weapons for self-defense are available for all citizens under license unless their antecedents or propensities do not entitle them for the privilege; and (iii) that firearms required for training purposes and ordinary civilian use are made more easily available on permits.” By asking to deposit all the legal firearms, the government is clearly making firearms “unavailable” for the purpose of which they have been legally acquired . As per trends in crimes from 1953 to 2007 published by the National Crime Records Bureau, during this period we witnessed a 229.7% increase in murders, a 733.8% increase in rapes, a 423.9% increase in kidnapping & abduction, a 191.9% increase in riots and a 230.5% increase in other cognizable crimes. The need for an average citizen to take measures to protect himself /herself and near and dear ones is now more than ever.
(8) This order and similar orders, policies and practices are against the spirit and objectives of various rulings of Hon'ble Courts for Right of Private Defense. By taking away the legal means for self defense, how does the government expect the citizens to defend themselves from criminals armed with all manner of illegal weapons? Moreover also ordering deposit of legal arms during elections has been already declared unlawful by Hon'ble Courts.
(9) There are legal precedents wherein the Hon'able Courts have held that the right of citizens to acquire, posses and carry arms to better defend themselves is equated with Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. Example: Judgment of Mr. Justice M.Katju in CMWP No.4723 of 1993 (reported in AIR 1993 ALLAHABAD 291) wherein right to carry non-prohibited firearms is treated to be embedded in right to life, hence a Fundamental Right under article 21 of the Constitution of India; it is further ruled that Licence for non-prohibited arms is to be ordinarily allowed except in case of heinous offence. It is a fact that for any reason whatsoever, the crime rate is raising day by day. The Government is not in a position to provide security to each and every person individually at all times and places. Right to possess arms is statutory right but right to life and liberty is fundamental right guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Corollary to it, it is citizen's right to possess firearms for their personal safety to save their family and near and dear ones from violent law breakers. It is often said that ordinarily in a civilized society, only civilized persons require arms license for their safety and security and not the criminals. Citizens right to protect their life and personal liberty is meaningless if they are denied the tools with which to protect themselves. The right to life and liberty is not just about a vegetative existence of life at the complete mercy of whatever protection provided by state machinery only, but includes the right to stay well armed and trained to protect ones life and those of near and dear ones.
Keeping in view above points and related facts, following two fundamental questions of law arise:
(і) Under what "justifications" can government infringe upon by various means the Rights of Private Defense of all citizens, as allowed by Section 96 to Section 106 of the Indian Penal Code, leading to infringement of the Right to Life and Liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and Right to Freedom to move freely and travel under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.
(іі) Under what "justification" can government disarm/keep disarmed by various means and infringe upon the rights mentioned above in question (і) of only and all those citizens who have informed the government that they posses/want to posses firearms by following the due process of law and keep firearms for use, just like police to enforce the law? Is this order and similar such orders, notifications, directives, policies, practices are also going to/have completely disarmed all the criminals holding unknown number and type of illegal weapons and make them fully incapable of committing crime and unable to pose any dangers for which need for self protection may arise? Or by creating hardships and difficulties by various means for licensed arms holders or those seeking legal arms, is the government trying to discourage its citizens from keeping arms lawfully and want them to look for some other ways and means to keep arms for self defense?
PRAYERS:
The petitioner therefore prays that this Hon’ble Court may be please issue appropriate directions to the respondent to:
a) Give orders/directions to the government not to issue illegal, unconstitutional orders, notifications, directives, policies about acquisition, possession and carrying of legal firearms that directly and/or indirectly infringe upon the Right to Private Defense as allowed by sections 96 to 106 IPC, Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and Right to Freedom to move freely and travel under Article 19 of the Constitution of India. Legally armed citizens are an asset for the nation, not a threat for the nation. Even the parliamentary committee set up to review the proposed Arms Bill which eventually became the Arms Act of 1959 had also envisaged a situation wherein the State could use legally armed civilians for defense of the country. Instead of above which lead to violation of the rights of citizens, whenever government has any reasons to apprehend an increase in violent crime and feels the state machinery is not sufficient to deal with such situation, it can invoke the provisions similar to that of Punjab Village and Small Towns Patrol Act of 1918 and also involve the citizens armed with legal firearms to participate in community policing.
b) Give orders/directions to the government to immediately withdraw if any illegal, unconstitutional orders, notifications , directives, policies, practices if are already in force by the government about acquisition, possession and carrying of legal firearms that directly and/or indirectly infringe upon the Right to Private Defense as allowed by sections 96 to 106 IPC, Right to Life under Article 21 of Constitution of India and Right to Freedom to move freely and travel under Article 19 of Constitution of India. Instead of above which lead to violation of the rights of citizens, whenever government finds any license holder violating the law by use of the weapon, the weapon be confiscated immediately and matter be bought to notice of Hon'ble Courts.
c) Give orders/directions to the government to instruct licensing authorities to avoid resorting to arbitrary practices and procedures based on their personal biases and prejudices like illegal denial, denial by the process of attrition by delay, unreasonable delay and all kinds of other hardships which result in infringement upon the Right to Private Defense as allowed by sections 96 to 106 IPC, Right to Life under Article 21 of Constitution of India and Right to Freedom to move freely and travel under Article 19 of Constitution of India. Instead of above which lead to violation of the rights of citizens, if the authorities find any evidence that applicant is applying with purpose or intention of violating any law with the weapon, should immediately file a case and bring it to the notice of the Hon'ble Courts.
d) Give orders/directions to the government to make the process of licensing for acquisition, possession and carrying of arms be made free from getting influenced and driven by personal biases and prejudices of authorities, instead be made clear, objective and time bound, so that the Right to Private Defense as allowed by sections 96 to 106 IPC, Right to Life under Article 21 of Constitution of India and Right to Freedom to move freely and travel under Article 19 of Constitution of India do not get infringed.
e) For such other orders and directions as this Hon’ble court may deem fit and necessary.
AND FOR THIS ACT OF KINDNESS THE PETITIONER AS IN DUTY BOUND SHALL EVER PRAY.
FILED BY THE PETITIONER
FILED ON:
ENCLOSED:
a) Eight PDF files as attachments as copy of each of the web pages referred by hyperlinks under “REFERENCE:” on pages 1 & 2 of the total 7 pages of this document.
b) Two PDF files as attachment as copy of violent crime data as downloaded from website of National Crime Records Bureau.
c) One PDF file as attachment as copy of Draft Arms & Ammunition Policy of MHA and one PDF file as attachment as copy of Draft Objections to Draft Arms & Ammunition Policy of MHA.
But keeping my opinion for the subject matter of the forum aside, here is what i think of the issue of approaching the courts against the order of the central government. 
...
(just felt like insering this somewhere in the post)