Ahead of polls, Bihar police gear up to check live bullets, illegal arms

The move is significant as Bihar ranks only second behind Uttar Pradesh in seeing deaths due to bullet injuries

With elections approaching, the fear of use of arms looms large in Bihar. In order to curb this menace, the Bihar police have sprung to action by scanning arms licences, controlling illegal arms, cracking down on manufacturing units of such arms and even reining in illegal possession of live cartridges.

According to the National Database of Arms Licenses-Arms License Issuance System (NDAL-ALIS) portal Bihar has 82,326 firearms holders and 77,479 active arms licences. (Sourced Pic)

In a latest catch, sleuths of Bihar’s Special Task Force (STF) on Monday arrested six people, including a notorious arms smuggler and two women from two separate places, and seized a huge cache of ammunition from them, officials said.

The joint team of STF, Nalanda and Kaimur police recovered 4,536 live cartridges of different bores, including those used in Self Loading Rifles. This huge recovery is significant because these cartridges can’t be manufactured locally and are always stolen or smuggled.

A senior police officer confirmed that the bullets were brought from outside as only illegal arms manufacturing units could be established locally and sophisticated cartridges could not be produced by local manufacturers. He said that it warrants a thorough check on entry of such cartridges into the state.

“The check on illegal cartridges would automatically bring down the cases of murder, attempt to murder, celebratory firing, extortion as well as illegal gun manufacturing units. In 2024 alone, Bihar police recovered 17,000 live cartridges and 3,600 illegal firearms, which could have found their way into the wrong hands,” he added.

According to the National Database of Arms Licenses-Arms License Issuance System (NDAL-ALIS) portal Bihar has 82,326 firearms holders and 77,479 active arms licences.

The move is significant as Bihar ranks only second behind Uttar Pradesh in seeing deaths due to bullet injuries. “In 2024, 80% of the 2,700 murders that took place in the state were attributed to bullets. Once the availability of live cartridges will be checked, such instances will come down,” the official added.

A senior officer of the police headquarters informed that a meeting of chief secretary Amrit Lal Meena with district magistrates and superintendents of police was held recently to ramp up arms verification exercise before assembly election and ascertain if the license holders were permanent residents of the state or not and if they were fit enough to carry arms.

“The authorities have also been asked to find out the annual purchase of cartridges. The gun shops will also be under scanner, as there have been growing instances of use of firearms in celebratory firing, particularly in Central Bihar and Shahabad region,” said ADG (headquarters) Kundan Krishnan.

Krishna said that the STF in its investigation found that there were 141 gun shops registered in the state and out of which 30 did not even open. “The license of such shops will be cancelled,” he added.

Maintaining that there had been growing instances of firing in neighbourhood disputes, the ADG said that the police headquarters has submitted a proposal as to why the cost of cartridges should not be doubled to check their rampant misuse.

“At present .315 bore cartridges are available at ₹175-200. If the cost is fixed at ₹400 and instead of a quota of 200 bullets to a license holder, it is fixed at 50, with a provision that for additional supply empty cartridges would have to be deposited, the proclivity to open fire at one’s whims and fancy would be significantly checked and that would also cut down the requirement of arms,” he added.

As per the new proposal, an arms licence holder would get only 25 bullets at a time and the next lot of 25 would be given only after submission of 25 empty cartridges. “The arms licence holder, if required, might also be asked about its usage,” said the official.

The ADG said that .32 bore, 9MM and 7.65 bore are prohibited cartridges produced in ordnance factories and used by the army, paramilitary and state police only.

“To control their use also, we will correspond with the concerned departments so that proper stock verification could be done. In Bihar, arms licenses from Nagaland and J&K are also banned. The district magistrates are the licensing authority for arms. All individual arms licences not uploaded on the NDAL-ALIS portal, developed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, are considered invalid, as per the rules,” he added.

Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena said the state government is implementing changes to firearms licensing regulations to strengthen gun control measures.