dna special: Gurgaon is booming with gun culture

From being a suburb of the national capital to one of the most lucrative real estate destinations in north India, Gurgaon has many adventurous tales in its kitty. But towering above all of them is the booming gun culture of the city.

With real estate rates touching unimaginable heights, the locals here move in SUVs flaunting weapons as show-off pieces. For a total population of around 15 lakh people in the district, out of which around nine lakh people reside inside the city contours, Gurgaon has only around 5,000 registered arms licences on paper.

But in reality, procuring of weapons illegally is fast becoming a trend here. And with that the number of crimes has increased. In 2011, 89 murder cases were registered in Gurgaon, while 82 murders were recorded in 2012; in 2013, the figure has already crossed 70.

In 2011 and 2012, 74 and 72 cases, respectively, were registered at various police stations under the Arms Act, and this year the number has already reached 88.

“After the union home ministry’s direction last year, we have restricted ourselves in issuing fresh licences for arms. At present we only issue around 30 to 35 licences each year, and that too after a lot a formalities. Prior to the guidelines, the department was under the deputy magistrate and there used be a soft approach in issuing licences. The DM office used to issue 60 to 70 licences each year. Now, we have restricted the number by a great deal,” said Jasmer Singh, in-charge of Arms Licence Wing of Gurgaon Police.

“Now the district administration doesn’t issue many licences and hence our business has gone down drastically. But people do buy weapons illegally from suppliers in neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Weapons are mostly procured from Meerut, Bulandshahar, Etawah, Rampur, Aligarh and Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh, Bharatpur and Kama in Rajasthan, and Dhar in Madhya Pradesh,” said a gun dealer, who is also in real estate business, on condition of anonymity.

Gurgaon has also become an adopted home for many armed forces personnel and hence they get their weapons re-registered in Gurgaon. “Re-registering of arms licences is a process in which an arms licence registered in some other state gets re-registered in Gurgaon. Most of the people who are coming for re-registration are Army personnel who have settled here from different states. On an average, we re-register 170 to 190 licences each year. We have also worked to reduce the number of licences by cancelling the existing licences. In the last couple of years we have cancelled around 300 licences,” added Singh.

According to figures, the numbers of re-registered licences for the past four years are: 173 (in 2010), 190 (2011) and 185 (2012). In 2013, around 170 have already been re-registered. Similarly, the number of licences issued in the last four year are: 36 (in 2010), 29 (2011), 31 (2012) and 24 (2013).

“Before 2009, obtaining a licence was easy as the authority was with the district magistrate. After the constitution of the police commissionaire in 2007, the Haryana government issued notification in October 2009 and appointed the joint commissioner of police to exercise the jurisdiction. And we have restricted the issuance of arm licences in the district and licence is only given to those who have threat to life,” added Singh.

In the recent years, Gurgaon has been witness to some of the most sensational crimes involving blatant misuse of arms. For example, in 2011, a toll attendant was killed by two youth at Khaki Dhaula toll plaza on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

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This article is published in dnaindia.com by Maninder Dabas.