Crackdown on illegal arms can play a major role in controlling crime in the country but the police will have to gear up to neutralise the syndicates
The last few months have witnessed a sudden spurt in violence and crime in the Delhi NCR and elsewhere in the country. Though it reflects a deteriorating law and order situation, what is more, disturbing is that in many of the reported cases, the accused were young adolescents and minors who committed crimes against other youth as well as adults. The reason for violence against other youth was generally some animosity, but, more alarmingly, reasons for most of such violence were trivial.
In one such case, some minors stabbed a classmate just because, allegedly, the victim, being a class monitor, had written the name of one of them on the class board which irked the minor; in another case, a young boy was killed by other boys in a chukka-bar under a mistaken identity. Numerous such cases involving young offenders are constantly being reported in Delhi-NCR which is indicative of rising aggression and vengeful tendencies among the youth, especially in Delhi NCR. Frequent such incidents in Delhi-NCR, contrary to the general perception, are giving the impression of the region no longer being a safer place to live.
From such incidents, it is alarmingly apparent that even on trivial issues, youth do not think of just simply hurting their adversary, rather they only think of killing. Almost all the cases reported recently point towards this direction and raise serious concerns about not only the deteriorating law and order situation but also about the direction in which our youth seems to be going.
The commission of a crime by youngsters has extremely adverse consequences not only for the victim and their families but also for the young offender and his family. Once a crime is committed, a saga of misery and agony follows. First, the offender becomes a wanted or arrested accused under the law, who is not just likely to face imprisonment and sentence but also animosity from the victim and their family members as they would probably keep a grudge and want to take revenge. Moreover, on being arrested, young offenders further fall into deep prey, as they often end up meeting hardcore criminals in jail, who trap them and push them into the crime business from which there is no return possible.
Such a situation is highly detrimental to a young offender whose single mistake sometimes can lead to lifelong agonies and miseries and can destroy the whole of their career and prospects. Moreover, the families of the offenders as well as the victims feel devastated and get trapped in a long-drawn and harassing legal battle that was unnecessary and could be avoided.
A large number of youths seem to be regularly falling prey to criminogenic tendencies and subsequent commission of crimes which is not in favour of anyone, neither the victim nor the offender, nor the society or the nation. This is no doubt true that many crimes are committed under a sudden heat of passion and due to circumstantial reasons and the offenders mostly repent later, however, it is important to find out ways to curb the rising incident of crimes, especially, involving the young offenders.
Besides many other factors responsible for the commission of crimes, one of the very pertinent reasons required to be addressed is the easy availability of illegal arms and weapons with which the crimes are committed. Almost all crimes are committed with weapons, most of which are illegally procured. There could be no doubt that the restriction on the availability of arms will surely lead to an automatic reduction in the crime rate.
The present arms law in India is contained in the Arms Act 1959 and Arms Rules 1962 which are comprehensive legislations and provide detailed provisions regarding possession of arms. The Act defines prohibited arms and ammunition and provides that the acquisition, possession, manufacture, import-export, transport and sale of prohibited arms and ammunition without a valid license is completely prohibited. Contravention of legal provisions carries punishment that may extend from 7 years imprisonment to a life sentence. Both these laws aim to curb the menace of illegally keeping weapons that could create a threat of violence that might result from possessing them.
India has the strictest arms law, especially regarding issuing gun licenses, however, it still has a high rate of deaths due to guns as illegal weapons are easily available. There is a clear lack of fear among offenders that usually results from a lack of law enforcement. It is not the severity of punishment, rather it is the certainty of punishment that matters. Ending illegal arms can play a major role in controlling crime, but for this, the police shall have to revamp their work for controlling illegal arms and their syndicates in this country.
(The writer is a Senior Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi)