Feb. 3: Firearms deposited with Assam police during Operation Rhino in 1990 are being ?conditionally released? to their owners.
Though the Assam government has yet to officially announce any change in its policy on private ownership of firearms, it has reportedly decided to return weapons stocked in the police malkhanas because of an improvement in the law and order situation.
Sources in Guwahati said the government had not framed a new policy on the issue, but asked the authorities of various districts to release firearms after verifying the individual requirements of their owners and the situation in the areas they are based in.
The directive to deposit firearms with the police had been issued after the outlawed Ulfa began snatching licensed weapons from their owners. The army was engaged in a massive counter-insurgency operation code-named Operation Rhino at the time.
The state government started the process of returning licensed firearms in 1998, but the decision was not officially made public.
Inspector-general (special branch) of police Khagen Sarmah said weapons were being returned to their owners on the basis of an assessment of individual cases and the nature of the applications.
?The law and order situation in Assam has improved considerably over the past few years. Licence-holders had previously approached the police because they feared that militants would take away their firearms. The situation has changed now,? Samah said.
In Sonitpur, the district authorities decided to return licensed weapons ?conditionally? after the district magistrate received about 200 applications. Most of these people had deposited their weapons with the police in 1990.
Sonitpur superintendent of police Satyen Gogoi told The Telegraph that the owners of firearms had been asked to renew their licences.
He said these weapons would be returned only after verifying the authenticity of ownership.
?Priority will be accorded to certain categories of owners. We intend to return single-barrel, double-barrel and small firearms to the owners of tea gardens, tehsildars and persons or institutions which carry huge amounts of cash frequently,? the SP added.
Sources said the state government had initially directed the district authorities to return weapons to owners based in the urban areas. This directive has now been extended to owners of licensed firearms staying in the rural areas.
The perceived improvement in the situation is not the only reason why the government has decided to return licensed firearms to their owners.
A police official said maintaining the large number of weapons stocked in police malkhanas had become a problematic task.
?A large quantity of arms is lying unused in police stations across the state and police malkhanas. Maintaining these weapons is a problem.?
With militant activity in Sonitpur district said to be ?negligible?, the district administration feels there is no need to retain the weapons that had been deposited with the police in 1990.
At a meeting in Tezpur on Saturday, the district magistrate of Sonitpur asked the police to submit verification reports within a fortnight of receiving applications forwarded by him. He said it was necessary to expedite the return of weapons.