Uttarakhand home secy, DGP informs HC about action taken in illegal weapons cases

Nainital, Aug 22 (PTI) Uttarakhand Home Secretary Shailesh Bagauli and Director General of Police (DGP) Deepam Seth on Friday informed the High Court 1,700 people have been booked in 1,550 cases related to illegal weapons in the state while 3,000 such weapons have been seized.

Appearing before a bench of Chief Justice G. Narendra and Justice Subhash Upadhyay through video conference, both the officials said that a total of 48,418 licenses of weapons have been issued in Uttarakhand.

Recently, 481 licenses were canceled, the court was told.

The officials apprised the court that 72 cases of firing and waving weapons while making social media reels were registered and 120 people were arrested in such cases.

The Home Secretary and DGP told the court that a factory of illegal weapons was busted in Udham Singh Nagar district. They said that since Udham Singh Nagar shares its border with a neighbouring state, special vigilance is being maintained there.

Earlier, the High Court had expressed concern over the incident of a student coming to school with a pistol and shooting and injuring his teacher in Kashipur of Udham Singh Nagar district.

In this regard, Bagauli said that the pistol belonged to the student's father who has been arrested while the student has been sent to the juvenile protection home.

The officials also said that the Uttarakhand Police is working in coordination with the STF of neighbouring states in the case of illegal weapons.

On August 19, while hearing a suo motu PIL regarding free and fair elections of Nainital District Panchayat, the Uttarakhand High Court had expressed concern over the law and order situation in the state and asked the Home Secretary and DGP of the state to appear before the court.

The division bench directed both the officers to prepare a detailed plan to curb illegal weapons, ensure free and fair elections, provide security to elected representatives and stop illegal mining.

Regarding the Nainital Panchayat elections, the court asked the Home Secretary and the DGP to review the video evidence once again.

The bench said that the earlier order given by the court regarding providing security to the elected members was not followed.

The bench emphasized that all elections should be conducted freely and safely. The court also suggested installing cameras in sensitive and remote areas and using modern technology for surveillance.

The court listed the hearing of the case for two weeks later. PTI DPT NB NB