MADURAI: Gun licences cannot be granted as a matter of right, and there is no duty cast on the authorities to issue licence, merely because somebody applies, the Madras high court has observed while dismissing the pleas moved by two brothers seeking gun licences, after taking into account their bad antecedents.
The court was hearing the petitions filed by M Raja, 53, and his brother M Kannan, 52. The father of the petitioners, S Muthiah was working as the Dindigul district superintendent of police (SP). The petitioners obtained gun licences by using the address of their father, who was working as the SP in 2000.
Subsequently, the gun licences were cancelled by the Dindigul district collector in 2002. The petitioners then filed appeals and the same were rejected. Thereafter, they applied for fresh licences to the Madurai district collector and the same was rejected in 2013. Their appeals were also dismissed in 2021.
Challenging the rejection orders, the petitioners had filed the present petition in 2022. The petitioners claim that they require a gun for their protection while they carry huge amounts of cash, for their business and to protect themselves from wild animals.
Justice C V Karthikeyan observed that the reasons stated by the petitioners cannot stand the scrutiny of this court. The petitioners stated that they require guns for protecting themselves from wild animals. This would also mean that the petitioners seek licences to shoot down wild animals.
“The animals are treasures of the forest and the petitioners cannot claim any privilege or right to wander around the forest and thereafter, seek permission to issue gun licence for protection from wild animals. They need not enter into the forest. They may stay at their house. They may stay away from the habitation of wild animals. Gun licences cannot be issued on that particular ground,” observed the judge.
The second ground for seeking gun licences is that the petitioners carry huge amounts of cash for the various businesses and that they are class-I contractors for the state government. There are so many class-I contractors in the state and if this ground is considered, then all contractors would start applying for gun licence using this order as a precedent. The petitioner shall very well go with online transactions.
There were several cases registered against the petitioners and their father. Though those cases ended in acquittal, it shows that they have an affinity to get involved in acts of crime. If permission is granted to them to use the gun, it will only lead to more chaos and confusion and the security of common innocent people would be at risk, leave alone the animals in the forest, observed the judge. In the case on hand, the petitioners had faced several criminal cases. The reasons for rejection by the authorities are reaffirmed, the judge observed.
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