E-Paper
People posing with arms on social media on Ludhiana police’s target
Arms licence to be cancelled, FIRs to be registered if police find online posts bragging about guns or opening fire
Trigger-happy people, who post videos and pictures of posing with arms or opening fire on social media, are in for trouble.
While opening fire will invite legal action with an FIR, posing with arms will lead to cancellation of the arms licence.
The move comes following a flurry of complaints regarding such content posted on social media, including Facebook and Instagram.
Currently, at least 18,000 people possess an arms licence in Ludhiana.
To rein in gun-wielding mongers, police have also formed a team of officials to keep a tab on such posts on social networking sites.
In one such instance, some youths had opened fire in the air using their licenced weapon on the occasion of Lohri on January 13. The youths, including a relative of a local Congress leader, had filmed the firing and posted it on social media. After the video went viral, police had lodged an FIR against the unidentified accused.
In a similar drive in December 2019, the police had cancelled 24 arms licences and also stalled renewal of 57 licences.
Commissioner of police Rakesh Agrawal said weapons were for self-defence and not for bragging or flaunting. “Such posts on social networking sites can cause panic among people. Police have already banned weapons at marriage palaces,” he said.
In February last year, following a central government notification, the police had asked all arms licence holders, who had three weapons against one licence, to surrender one weapon. According to the notification, only two weapons are allowed to one licence holder. Earlier, three weapons were permitted against one licence.
Under fire
November 19, 2019: Punjabi singer Elly Mangat was booked for opening celebratory fire from a rifle at his friend’s birthday party at Darod village in Sahnewal, 20km from Ludhiana, after his video went viral
January 22, 2020: The Ludhiana police had issued summons to Punjabi singers Sidhu Moose Wala, alias Shubhdeep Singh, and Mankirt Aulakh over a video promoting gun culture and violence.
