Prohibition of carrying licensed weapons in public places

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

'Government of Nepal using the right given by Section 8 of the Arms and Weapons Act 2019 to keep or carry firearms in accordance with Section 3 of the same Act, but who have not obtained a travel license as per Sections 4 and 5 cannot take their arms outside their homes and including licensed weapons, judicial bodies, Parliament Government offices, hospitals, airports, public vehicles, religious and educational places, cinema halls, commercial buildings, haat bazaars and shopping malls, meeting places, places of processions, archaeological and preserved except for the purpose of bringing or taking away for license renewal in the office where arms license has been obtained. This notice has been published because it is prohibited to take it to places, 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 Weapons and Weapons Act 2019 states that it is prohibited to keep weapons and ammunition in certain places. 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. The government has a provision to grant license to the concerned person to keep weapons of specified capacity subject to specified conditions and restrictions. Section 3 of the said Act prohibits "cannons, machine guns, and handguns, except for licenses, to make, carry with you, or to keep or cause to be kept in other places, and to convert from one form to another and to sell."

"No one 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" it is said in sub-section 1 of the said section. In sub-section 2, it is said that 'without obtaining a license or subject to the conditions specified in the licence, no person shall make, repair, carry or keep with him 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) 'Anyone who 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 buys or receives the relevant district administration It has been mentioned that approval should be obtained from the office. Violation of these conditions will result in imprisonment up to two years and a fine of up to 20,000 rupees.

'However, nothing in sub-section (2) shall prevent a person who legally keeps a weapon or weapon for his own personal use from selling that weapon or weapon to another person who is not prohibited by the law for the time being.' Bodyguard Deepak Khadka of Buddhashanti Rural Municipality-4 of 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.

On behalf of the petitioner, a writ of detention was filed in the Supreme Court 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 Chait 13 with the verdict of illegal detention.

In the same order, the court also raised a question about how weapons that cannot be kept even after obtaining a license were registered and given. It has been said that 'in sub-section 1 of section 131 of the National Criminal Code 2074, special weapons cannot be obtained' and under that section, point number 'd' includes any type of rifle and its accessories, and it is seen that it has been placed in the negative list so that the license to keep such weapons cannot be obtained. The court ordered an investigation into how the license obtained from the Jhapa district administration was given to keep the weapons of the seized class, except for the officers of the security agencies.

The Prussians renewed their weapons on 7th December 2079. Prasain renewed the arms license until the end of June 2081. However, the government has confiscated the weapons recovered from the Supreme Court premises. The Supreme Court, in the writ of detention, had ordered "immediately to 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 the carrying of licensed weapons in designated places including public places.

An official of the Ministry of Home Affairs said that he had to issue an order with strict conditions regarding the use of licensed weapons in public places and the risk of their misuse. The officer said, 'As there is a risk that weapons given with the condition of personal safety may be taken to public places and government offices/courts and that such weapons may be misused by targeting people who are not satisfied with them, the government has issued an order to designate different areas and not to carry registered weapons in those places. '

The government collects 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 misuse/misuse of the weapons kept in that way, it has been seen that people can reach the court with weapons unhindered. 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.