DGP to HC: Recommended new law against promoting gun culture
According to DGP Gaurav Yadav, the state authorities encounter various difficulties in removing content from the web as there is no authority vested by any law in the state government to ban any song, except issuing orders under section 144 of the CrPC and registration of an FIR for violation of the said order.
Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav has told the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) that the cyber police of the state recommended enactment of a law to deal with instances of promoting gun culture, alcohol and drugs, etc. The state authorities encounter various difficulties in removing content from the web as there is no authority vested by any law in the state government to ban any song, except issuing orders under section 144 of the CrPC and registration of an FIR for violation of the said order, the DGP said in an affidavit. He said the problem had been reported by the cyber wing to the state government in removing the objectionable songs promoting violence, gun culture, alcohol and drugs, besides requesting to make a specific law to fix culpability of content creators and social media intermediaries.
The DGP’s affidavit has come after data with regard to gun licences, action against those promoting gun culture, etc., was sought by the HC in April. The court had sought this data suo motu.
As per the DGP, 115 uniform resource locator (URL) links with objectionable content were identified by the cyber unit, including 77 on YouTube and 38 on Facebook. Out of them, 48 from YouTube and 14 from Facebook have been blocked but 53 still remain active. Notices were sent to intermediaries. However, they raised objections to the request to block the URLs. After many follow-ups, 62 were blocked. As per the affidavit, five FIRs have also been registered against different content creators for making objectionable content and 23 FIRs have also been registered for promoting enmity, with highest in Ludhaina (8).
Approx 3.5 lakh gun licences in state
As per the affidavit, 1,612 guns licences have been sent for cancellation since November 2022. However, only 750 were cancelled. The data reveals that till November 2022 there were 3,35,476 licences in the state with highest in Moga (26,970), followed by Bathinda (25,045), Amritsar rural (24,784) and Patiala (23,598). The data is of 28 field units, including districts, police commissionerates, etc. As per a report submitted in April, 34,768 weapon licences have been granted by the state government since January 1, 2019.