The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday ordered the state government to prepare a blueprint for formation of firearms bureau in the state and inform the court about it by November 5.
Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary issued the order while hearing a case Md Isteyaque v/s State of Jharkhand.
It may be mentioned here the firearms bureau is expected to prepare the inventory of weapons seized by police in various operations and also ensure their destruction after the final disposal of the related criminal case.
Senior state government officials including home secretary SKG Rahate, director general of police DK Pandey and additional director general CID Ajay Kumar Singh were present in the court during the hearing that lasted for over an hour.
Advocate General Ajit Kumar informed media persons that blueprint is to be prepared in view of sections 103 and 104 of the Arms Act.
He stated that section 103 is related to preparation of inventory of recovered arms while section 104 is concerned with destruction of the arms.
Kumar elaborated that fire arms seized by police in connection with crime are basically used as an exhibit before the court.
He added all of them have to be destroyed after the final disposal of the case.
Kumar mentioned that during the hearing court inquired about the efforts taken by the state government regarding formation of bureau and also the status of similar unit in other states.
The AG praised the court’s directive saying that if there was any rule or act made by the center it should be implemented.
It may be mentioned here that the case is related to a person who was caught with a weapon in Ranchi district in 1986. Police used firearms allegedly found in his possession to implicate him.
The petitioner had appealed to the High Court after he was convicted by the lower court in this regard.
The next hearing in the case has been fixed on November 5. Court has asked the state government officials willing to assist on the issue to be present during the next hearing.