Prohibition of carrying licensed weapons in government offices and public places

After the bodyguard of medical practitioner Durga Prasai was arrested in March 2080 from the Supreme Court premises with automatic weapons and ammunition, the government started searching for licensed weapons across the country. After that, the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a notice in the gazette on August 31, making standards for the use of licensed weapons and prohibiting the carrying of registered weapons outside the home.

'The government of Nepal using the right given by section 8 of the Arms and Weapons Act 2019, those who have obtained a license to keep or carry arms according to section 3 of the same act, but who have not obtained a travel permit according to sections 4 and 5, are not allowed to take their arms outside their homes and even licensed weapons Government offices, hospitals, airports, public vehicles, religious and educational places, cinema halls, commercial buildings, haat bazaars and shopping malls, meetings, places of processions, except for the purpose of bringing or taking away for the purpose of renewing the license to agencies, parliament buildings and premises, offices where arms have been licensed. This notification has been published because it is prohibited to take to archaeological and protected sites, children's homes and other areas prohibited by prevailing laws,' said the notice published in the gazette on behalf of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Section 8 of the Firearms and Weapons Act 2019 states that it is prohibited to keep weapons and ammunition in a certain place. In that section, the Government of Nepal may publish a notice in the Nepal Gazette and prohibit any person from keeping any type of arms or ammunition in the designated place.

There is an arrangement that the government can grant license to the relevant person to keep the weapons of the specified capacity subject to the specified conditions and restrictions. Section 3 of the said Act prohibits "cannons, machine guns and other than license to make, carry, keep or keep in another place or change from one form to another and sell them" . It is stated in subsection 1 of the said section, 'No one shall make, repair, carry or keep in another place, convert from one form to another or sell or give for sale '

subsection In 2, it is said that 'without obtaining a license or subject to the conditions specified in the license, no person shall make, repair, keep with himself or keep or cause to be kept in another place, convert from one form to another or sell or give for sale, or keep' ;

In section 3 (a), when anyone has to sell or hand over to another person, except in cases where it is prohibited according to the prevailing law, the name, surname, address and citizenship number of the person who purchased or received, the relevant district administration Approval will have to be obtained from the office,'

It is said that if you work against these conditions, you will be imprisoned for up to two years and fined up to twenty thousand rupees. "However, nothing in sub-section (2) shall prevent a person who legally owns a weapon or weapon for his own personal use from selling that weapon or weapon to another person who is not prohibited by the immediately applicable law."

2080 Chait 5 Prasai's bodyguard Deepak Khadka of Buddhashanti Rural Municipality-4 in Jhapa was arrested from the Supreme Court premises. The police recovered from Khadka an automatic weapon (rifle) with 'Made in Germany' written 'Armeria Parini-SRL' and 100 rounds of ammunition.

A writ of detention was filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of the petitioner with the claim that Khadka was illegally detained as he was carrying seized weapons and ammunition with permission from the government. They were released after the bench of Judges Nahkul Subedi and Sunil Kumar Pokharel ordered the release of the arrested persons on March 13 with the judgment that they had been illegally detained. In the same order, the court also raised a question about how the weapons that could not be kept even with permission were registered and given.

It has been said that 'in sub-section 1 of section 131 of the National Criminal Code 2074, special weapons should not be obtained' and under that section, point number 'd' includes any type of rifle and its accessories, including any type of rifle and its accessories, so that it is not possible to obtain a license to keep such weapons. The court ordered to investigate the matter of how the license obtained from the Jhapa district administration was given to keep the weapons of the seized class.

Prasai had renewed weapons on 7th of January 2079 . Prasain renewed the arms license until the end of June 2081. But, The government has confiscated the weapons recovered from the Supreme Court premises. The Supreme Court, in the writ of arrest, had ordered "to immediately make necessary legal arrangements regarding not being allowed to enter the court, judicial body or other sensitive areas with any weapon". According to the same order, on August 31, the government published a notice in the Nepal Gazette and banned people from walking with licensed weapons in designated places including public places.

An official of the Ministry of Home Affairs said that an order had to be issued with strict conditions regarding the use of licensed weapons in public places and seeing the risk of its misuse.

The officer said, 'There is a risk that people who are not satisfied with the weapons may be taken to public places and government offices/courts with the condition of personal safety, and that such weapons may be misused by people who are not satisfied with them. Yes .'

The government collects the licensed weapons at the district administration office during the election and returns them after the election. However, due to the lack of regulation, monitoring and supervision by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the District Administration Office regarding the use/misuse of the weapons kept in such a way, it has been seen that the homeless people are reaching the courts with weapons. The home officer clarified that the order was issued with conditions regarding its regulation and use only after Durga Prasain's bodyguard was arrested with weapons from the court premises.