Police in India's crimepit state (Bihar) plan to LITERALLY convert arms to farm-tools

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15621992

From arms to farms - Indian state plans gun meltdown

2011/11/08 19:31 ET

The process of melting down arms into ploughshares has been described as the "cannibalisation" of the state's weapons (All pictures: Biharphoto/Prashant Ravi)

Police in the northern Indian state of Bihar have come up with an original way to deal with the surfeit of seized illegal firearms that are stored in police station storehouses, or malkhanas.

They have decided to melt the weapons down into farming and gardening tools.

"The weapons stashed in police station malkhanas are of no use once the legal process of the case is over. They stink like dead bodies," says Abhyanand, the Bihar police chief who has ushered in this innovative idea.

"Can we keep the dead bodies of criminals for long? Only the post-mortem report is preserved. The same law should apply with unwanted weapons."

The police chief told the BBC that was a provision in the Bihar Police Manual that gave him the power to order the destruction of "unserviceable and unusable" weapons that have been seized by his officers and which have been lying in police stations for too long.

The police say that there is no shortage of weapons that need to be destroyed

Besides, he argues, local courts in Bihar can - under the terms of the code of criminal procedure - also order the destruction of seized weapons once a criminal trial is over.

"But instead of simply destroying the firearms I thought it would be better to recycle them into farming and gardening tools to help rural people earn their livelihoods," police chief Abhyanand said.

It is not the first innovation this dynamic Bihar policeman has introduced.

He has brought in fast-track trials to Bihar's courts and made it possible for retired army personnel to be appointed to the Special Auxiliary Police (SAP).

More recently he has enabled police to seize unclaimed property as part of a drive to establish the rule of law in a state that has a reputation for being one of the most lawless in India.

"In due process all of them will be melted down into farming or agricultural tools"--Abhyanand, Bihar police chief

'Positive message'

In October the first weapons-to-farms case was heard in the district of Darbhanga. It was not an auspicious start.

The district police chief appealed to Chief Judicial Magistrate PK Dixit for permission to destroy a locally made pistol - or katta - that was confiscated from a criminal after his death and convert it into an agricultural implement.

The day after the court gave its assent, police took the weapon to a foundry in neighbouring Begusarai district - 100km (62 miles) away and melted it down.

"But sadly the local blacksmith - despite his hard work - failed to convert the pistol into an agri-tool, so we took it to a foundry where it was liquefied," said police Superintendent Vikas Vaibhav.

But if on that occasion the scheme did not work, the principle had been firmly established.

Mr Vaibhav said that by destroying such seized illegal firearms, the police could offset "erroneous allegations" that they often used such weapons to support false charges.

Mr Vaibhav's counterpart in adjacent Muzaffarpur district, Rajesh Kumar, has also recycled unwanted weapons - turning them into hoes, clippers, sickles and weeding shovels.

The district police compiled a list of 37 police stations in Muzaffarpur district where weapons were stored belonging to criminals connected with arms haul cases.

Mr Kumar then appealed to local courts for permission to destroy the weapons, which were taken to a roadside blacksmith to be turned into farming tools.

This time there were no complications and the event was witnessed by an executive magistrate and recorded on video.

Mr Kumar says that he hopes many other weapons may be changed into tools.

"It will stop misuse of weapons," he told the BBC, "and will send a positive message to society."

Only after the red tape has been removed can the weapons go up in flames

Dubious distinction

Bihar has more than 800 police stations and according to police estimates at least 10 illegal weapons are seized and placed in them every month.

"Over 60,000 illegal firearms - mostly country-made pistols and revolvers - are currently lying in malkhanas of police stations in Bihar," says police chief Abhyanand.

"In due process all of them will be melted down into farming or agricultural tools."

Visibly upbeat from the encouraging reception his idea has generated among the people of Bihar, he says that in the long run he would like to get permission from Patna High Court to destroy seized firearms from the very beginning of criminal cases.

But this would not be India if there were not a little red tape in the process.

"Of course [it can only be done] once the documentation - including videography and ballistic reports of the weapons - is completed," he says.

But there is little doubt that the bureaucratic delays will not stop what the police chief describes as the "cannibalisation of Bihar's weapons".

That such weapons need to be taken out of circulation is all too clear from a recent report by National Crime Records Bureau.

It shows that Bihar - along with Uttar Pradesh - has earned the dubious distinction of the "most crime prone state" in India, accounting for 3,362 lives lost in violent crimes in 2010.

[Danno 1,228]

Sounds like the beginning of a prophetic age.

They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

Isaiah 2:4

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Sounds like the beginning of a prophetic age.

They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

Isaiah 2:4

Only coincidentally--given the demographics of Bihar:

• less than 2% of the State's 108 million people are Christians--and in some major cities (Sasaram, Saharsa) you'll have a hard time finding a church
• even by official figures (as of 2011) about 37% of the State's population is illiterate (reality--try closer to 45%)

So, pitifully few will know the Bible at all (even in local language).

[scandal 951]

Only coincidentally--given the demographics of Bihar:

• less than 2% of the State's 108 million people are Christians--and in some major cities (Sasaram, Saharsa) you'll have a hard time finding a church
• even by official figures (as of 2011) about 37% of the State's population is illiterate (reality--try closer to 45%)

So, pitifully few will know the Bible at all (even in local language).

Isaiah wasn't a Christian. He was a ............

[Danno 1,228]

Only coincidentally--given the demographics of Bihar:

• less than 2% of the State's 108 million people are Christians--and in some major cities (Sasaram, Saharsa) you'll have a hard time finding a church
• even by official figures (as of 2011) about 37% of the State's population is illiterate (reality--try closer to 45%)

So, pitifully few will know the Bible at all (even in local language).

No matter, this time period when this is to happen is - "The last days",

this time of peace would come by Gods hand not mans.

I believe the same part of that scripture is on a plate or monument at the United nations, also leading the reader to conclude peace might come by way of mans effort specially the United nations when the complete reading says something else.

1This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established

as chief among the mountains;

it will be raised above the hills,

and all nations will stream to it.

3Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways,

so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion,

the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

5Come, O house of Jacob,

Edited November 11, 2011 by Danno

[Saddle Bronc 124]

No matter, this time period when this is to happen is - "The last days",

this time of peace would come by Gods hand not mans.

I believe the same part of that scripture is on a plate or monument at the United nations, also leading the reader to conclude peace might come by way of mans effort specially the United nations when the complete reading says something else.

1This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established

as chief among the mountains;

it will be raised above the hills,

and all nations will stream to it.

3Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways,

so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion,

the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

5Come, O house of Jacob,

10,000,000% correct!