RTI reveals more murders in Punjab are committed with licensed weapons
12 Dec, 2013
An application was filed with the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the details of murders committed across the states and their breakup on the basis of licensing of weapons used in the murders.
The reply to the application states that more murders in India were committed with unlicensed weapons in comparison to the licensed weapons. The data shows that in last one year, 3,458 people were murdered with unlicensed weapons and 323 with licensed weapons. It also says that most murders were committed in Uttar Pradesh (1,575), followed by Bihar (682) and West Bengal (269).
The statistics show 3,063 murders were committed in 2010, out of which 2,723 were executed with unlicensed weapons and 340 with licensed weapons. State-wise breakup show that UP witnessed highest murder (778 with unlicensed weapons and 114 with licensed weapons), followed by Bihar (684 and 10) and West Bengal (306 and 1). In 2011 also, UP topped the chart with 1048 murders with unlicensed weapons and 135 with licensed weapons and Bihar (500 and 7) and West Bengal (317 and 2) followed. The reply shows that the case is reverse in case of Punjab where more murders have been committed using licensed weapons. In 2010, licensed weapons were used in 65 murders while unlicensed weapons were used in 8 murders. The figures for 2011 and 2012 were 60 & 15 and 56 & 10 respectively. The RTI reply also showed that in past three years (2010-2012), no murder has taken place in Sikkim, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep.