Behind Bihar’s violent crimes, illegal weapon web, fake license, police studies show India news

The study, ‘illegal firearms and ammunition circulation and dynamics of trade network: a Bihar perspective’, was presented to Bihar Director General of Police Vinay Kumar last week. It comes at a time when Bihar is gearing up for the assembly elections.

Significantly, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Bihar is continuously ranking in the top five states of the state in the case of violent offenses between 2017 and 2022 years.

The study suggests that in 82 events/year, Patna leads violent crimes in the state. Districts like Motihari (49.53), Saran (44.08), Gaya (43.50), Muzaffarpur (39.93) and Verry (37.90) follow districts. Seven of the top 10 districts with the highest number of violent offenses – Patna, Motihari, Muzaffarpur, Vaidi, Savestipur, Nalanda and Begusarai – are also in the top 10 districts, which have most of the weapons cases, indicating the circulation of that and illegal firearms.

Due to these findings, the Special Task Force recommended that the Bihar DGP cuts the individual olf -quota from the current 200, which assumes those with an MEMS license for the DGP office, “Cancels the license of licensed mining factories and issued weapons by Nugal and Kashmu. Reviews

Significantly, the Central Bureau of Investigation is investigating alleged irregularities in giving over 2.74 lakh gun licenses between 2012 and 2016 in J&K when it was still a state. Meanwhile, the Surat police is allegedly investigating allegations of fake arms license being issued in Dimapur, Nagaland.

Study here shows:

* Three major channels of weapons and ammunition trade are illegal firearms built locally from minigun factories, illegally viewed and illegally secured licensed firearms.

* Analysis of SCRB’s decodel data from 2015 to 2024 suggests that an average of 2,913 cases of the ARMS Act include the recovery of illegal firearms/ ammunition. The average annual recovery is 3,628 for illegal firearms and 17,239 for illegal ammunition. The study said, “These illegal firearms are being used for violent crimes such as murder, kidnapping, robbery, bank robbery, road robbery.”

* Patna leads to registration of affairs of weapons act with an annual average of 321.7 cases/year, followed by Begusarai (167.7), Muzaffarpur (158.3), Nalanda (117.9) and Vaishli (117.8).

* In the last 10 years, the number of recovered country-made firearms has doubled from 2,356 to 2024 in 2015. District-wise data on the recovery of illegal country-made firearms suggests that the lease 384.4 is at the top of the recovered gun/year-long before Munger, which comes from a distance with 2222.3.

* In the last 10 years, the number of recovered ammunition/ cartridges has increased from 9,449 to 23,451 in 2024 in 2015, with the highest recovery in 2023 (31,691). District-wise data on the illegal ammunition/ cartridge recovered shows that Aurangabad leads the list, followed by Patna, and Gaya. However, neither Aurangabad nor Gaya – both are affected by the Maoist movement – find a place in 10 districts with the highest illegal firearms.

* SCRB data and ARMS license-arms license issuance system (NDAL-Alis) has a discrepancy in the national database of issuance of license-A portal developed by the Ministry of Affairs, the process of applying for weapons license-to streamline the process of applying for arms license-in more than a dozen districts, in which more than a dozen districts, including Bhojpur, Rohtas, Sin, Sarab, Sarab, Sarab, Sir, Sir, Sir, Sir, Sin, Sin, Sin, Sin, Sin, Sin, Sin, Sin, Sir Buxar, and Kimur of the districts. There were also discrepancies in data for licensed arms dealers. For example, NDAL-LIS data showed that Munger had nine weapons dealers while the district data stated that there were 40 weapons dealers.

* The annual number of illegal minigun factories has increased significantly, standing at 70 in 2023, less than 13 in 2018. In general, the number of such minigun factories has been increasing since 2018, 2021 (32 minigun factories have been recorded) Naland (2.9), Khagaria (2.3), Patna (2.1) and Bhagalpur (1.4). As stated by the Indian Express earlier, there are several illegal assembling units for the alleged country-made firearms of Munger.

*Districts with the highest recovery of firearms and the ammunition also report high incidents of violent crimes. This includes districts such as Patna, Begusarai, Muzaffarpur, Vaidi, Saharsa and Bhagalpur, all of which are usually seen as some of the most crime-affected areas of the state.

*While both Gaya and Aurangabad provide continuous facilities in the top five districts in terms of illegal firearms/ammunition recovery, they are not registered in the list of highest number of weapons act cases in the list of top 10 districts. Similarly, while Munger has the most illegal minigun factory and has also seen the highest recovery of illegal ammunition, it is not registered with the highest number of weapons act cases in the list of 10 districts.

The study depicts a pattern of organized and systematic abuse of fake documents for illegal purchase of firearms and ammunition/ cartridges, Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Kundan Krishnan told The Indian Express.

“Our findings also suggested forgery of license and identity cards of real license holders. Licensed dealers are being fraudulently purchased in other states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu, Kashmir, and Nagaland, which indicate a comprehensive interstate network,” he said.

There is enough evidence to show that licensed gun shops are actively involved in mimicking the firearms deposited and sell the original weapons illegally, while maintaining fake or duplicate copies in their list, he said.

He said, “STF recommended corrective steps that included weapon license and surrendered arms. If the license is unable to keep firearms, the mandatory authentication of licenses issued from other states, especially Nagaland and J&K, said.