AMRITSAR: More than a thousand AK-type Chinese assault rifles seized from militants and now in custody as case property have been put to operational use by the Punjab Police without getting permission from courts it is authoritatively learnt.
These seized weapons and ammunition according to reliable police sources were illegally’ issued from the malkhanas (safe custody of the courts) chiefly for the personal protection of top civil and police officials in the state
The cases involving the recovery of these weapons from militants slain or alive are still pending in various courts.
As a matter of fact the seized AK-47 and AK-74 assault rifles have come handy in modernizing’ the police. These sleek weapons were seized from militants from across the border.
The bodyguards of a majority of senior officials right from the Director-General of Police to SSPs have been equipped with assault rifles.
The Punjab Police it is learnt has been using seized rifles for quite some time now.
According to sources the police wanted the AK-47 rifles deposited in the malkhanas to arm the gunmen of senior officials and public figures on the hit list of militants because of security emergencies. Obsolete weapons such as Stan guns and carbines available with the force on personal security duty were hardly a match for the sophisticated weapons with the militants a senior police official said.
It is learnt that sometime ago. the Inspector-General (Crime) had written to the district police chiefs to approach the courts in their area for the release of and permission to use the weapons.
The police had made a case for getting the seized arms and ammunition declared perishable articles under the CR.P.C. It was suggested that the weapons and cartridges lying in the malkhanas should put to use otherwise these would become unserviceable with the passage of time.
However the district police did not bother to formally put up a request with courts. Instead it got the weapons issued from the malkhanas on its own.
The courts sources say had turned down the police pleas to cover the seized weapons and ammunition under the purview of the Perishable Articles Act. Only in a few cases has court at Tam Taran gives permission to the police to use weapons seized from killed militants.
The police had not been producing seized AK-47 rifles during court proceedings in the cases. Consequently more than not the TADA cases become weak from court’s point of view. The police plea in such cases have been that it is not practical to bring weapons from the malkhanas courts for each hearing because involves a high degree of risk. Amritsar district alone in at least two dozen TADA cases the suspects were released by the courts because to oppose failed to produce the seize weapons
When the cases are decided by the courts illegal weapons are sent to the man malkana at the Police Training Center at Phillaur
Although as per the law only courts can issue permission to dispose of seized weapons the police have been violating the rules by using them for operational purposes as well as security duty. At the border districts of Amritsar Gurdaspur and Ferozepur at least 50 AK-47 rifles from Malkhanas are reported to being the illegal possession of the police Recently the BSF authorities had asked the Punjab government that it should be allowed to retain and use the arms and ammunition seized on the Indo Pakistan border. This would ensure a proper use and maintenance of much weapons it was argued.
As per the prevalent procedure the arms seized by the BSF are handed over to the police station of the area and kept in the malkana.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 7, 1991
