Delhi High Court: A Single Judge Bench of Sanjeev Sachdeva, J. dismissed the writ petition challenging the orders made by Additional Commissioner of Police (Licensing) and the Lt. Governor with regard to the rejection of issuance of arms licence. The petitioner applied for obtaining fire arms licence but the same was rejected on the ground that there was no specific threat.
The applicant placed reliance on the judgment in Sahil Kohli v. Additional Commissioner of Police, WP No. (C) No. 5959/2013 to contend that “Arms licence could not be denied, solely on the ground that there is no specific threat to the applicant or his family members”, he further contended that applicant’s own perception of threat to life or property is to be considered.
The Court held that the Sahil Khan (supra) judgment will not apply as factual matrix largely differs from the present case. The Court relying on the judgment of Nirankar Rastogi v. Joint Commissioner of Police, W.P.(C) No. 8893/2015 held that perception of threat is a question of fact that cannot be assessed by the individual himself but can only be assessed by the investigating agencies.
The Court also noted that “there is no fundamental right of an individual to hold an arm. We are not living in a lawless society where individuals have to acquire or hold arms to protect themselves”. [Virendra Prasad v. Addl. Commissioner of Police, 2017 SCC OnLine Del 8963, decided on 03/07/2017]
