DEEPAK MALHOTRA Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present public interest litigation is filed by the petitioner seeking a writ, direction or order to command the respondents to forthwith in a time bound manner withdraw the INSAS rifles from active duty/service and replace the same with a suitable modern firearm. The petitioner is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Indian Army, commissioned in Garhwal Rifles in 1970. He states that he is familiar with basic firearms of the infantry.

(2.) It is averred that the INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) is a family of infantry arms consisting of an assault rifle and a light machine gun. It is manufactured by the Ordinance Factories Board at Ordinance Factories in Tiruchirappalli, Kanpur, etc. It is further averred that the INSAS assault rifle is the standard infantry weapon of the Indian Armed Forces. It is stated that the rifle was designed and manufactured to be a world class assault rifle but it has major design and metallurgy problems.

(3.) It is the contention of the petitioner that the armed forces have registered a protest against the defective weapon but still these rifles are being continued. Reliance is placed on a statement alleged to have been made by the Director General, CRPF (wrongly described as Director CRPF) which is reported in the press that the INSAS's metallurgy is inferior to foreign rifles and further that the magazine used therein is made of plastic and it often cracks. It is further averred that the INSAS, as per the statement of the Director General, CRPF, has a higher error percentage. Copy of the newspaper report is annexed.