NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said the use of illegal weapons is a "disturbing trend" and registered a suo motu case to restrict the use of such unlicensed firearms in the country.
"The use of illegal firearms is a disturbing trend. There is no right to bear arms, under the Indian Constitution, unlike the US," a bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna said, while lodging a Suo Motu case to deal with the menace.
The bench said due to the unrestricted use of fire arms, and many times, unlicensed firearms are used allegedly, resulting in injuries and at times also death happened in many parts of India.
"Unlike the US constitution, where right to bear firearms is a Fundamental Right, under the wisdom of our founding fathers, no such right has been conferred on anybody under the Constitution of India," the bench said.
"I am from Kerala. This is unheard of there. Very few cases," Justice Joseph said
Justice Nagarathna also orally said, "It is the feudal mindset".
Hearing the bail plea by 73-year-old man, the court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file an affidavit within four weeks, on the number of cases registered for possession and use of unlicensed firearms under the Arms Act or any other law.
The court also asked the UP government to indicate the steps taken by it, to root out "the evil of unlicensed arms".
