In the past 3 years, police have recovered more than 17000 illegal weapons from Rajasthan. Getting illegal weapons in the state is an easy task but getting a license for a legal weapon is a tough job.

Every month, Rajasthan police recovers an average of 500 illegal weapons. More than 60 percent of these weapons are smuggled from Madhya Pradesh. Khamnor in Rajasthan and Dhar in Madhya Pradesh are infamous for such activities. As per Rajasthan police, a local pistol (desi katta or tamancha) is easily available for anywhere between 500 to 2000 rupees. Human Rights Commission has demanded a report on this issue from the State Government.

One licensed weapon per 512 people

Holding licensed weapons is like a fashion for public, probably as a result of which crime rate is going higher and it has become a tough task for the police to stop or handle crimes. It has been reported that almost 10,000 people apply for Arms license every year in Rajasthan. Though the applications are too many, yet government is issuing licenses to only those who need it the most. It is yet more surprising that every 512^th person owns a weapon. As per data 1,33,968 people own licensed arms.

Arms recovered

Rajasthan police have recovered around 17,570 weapons with cartridges between 2104 and 2016. Among the arrested are smugglers who were arrested while going to deliver arms to other parties. There has been a rise in smuggling of illegal weapons in the last two years. Year 2014 saw 5232 cases of illegal weapons, which rose to 5894 in 2015 and went even higher in 2016 to 6445.  This year, 2017 saw 1158 cases of illegal weapons in the first 2 months itself.

11 districts make illegal weapons

11 districts of Rajasthan have been secretly making illegal weapons. Weapons brought from other states are also stocked here and supplied. Jhalawar tops the list in illegal weapons followed by Bharatpur, Dholpur, Karoli, Churu, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Alwar, Dausa, and Rajsamand. Police have raided these places a number of times in the last twelve years and recovered weapons from here.

Source: rp