issued to 61 tribal people for self defence against Maoists in
Bihar`s Rohtas district, officials said.
They were living at a base camp at Chenari for the
past several months. Now they have returned to their villages
so arms licences were issued after thorough assessment of the
threats from Maoists, sources said.
"They were issued arms licences to instill confidence
and enable them to defend themselves in the event of being
attacked by Maoists," District Magistrate (DM) Anupam Kumar
said.
Kumar said, "Twelve of them have bought firearms and
presented them to the police authorities for verification
yesterday."
Superintendent of Police (SP) Manu Maharaj told the
tribal people against the misuse of the guns else the licences
will be cancelled.
More than 500 tribal people left their villages in
Rohtas, Nauhatta and Chenari blocks and took shelter at a base
camp at Chenari after a series of attacks in July last year in
Kaimur forest range in which five persons were killed, 13
others injured and 21 houses were set ablaze by Maoists.
PTI
