A bill to provide for life imprisonment and fine, in addition to death penalty, as punishment for contravening the provisions of the Arms Act was introduced in the Lok Sabha
The Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2011, was tabled in the wake of several litigations following which the Supreme Court had held that the 1959 Act, which only provided death penalty for its violations, was "harsh, oppressive and unjust", according to the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the bill.
The government proposed to amend a sub-section of Section 27 of the Act to provide that whoever used prohibited arms or ammunition or contravened any provision of the law which results in the death of any other person "shall be punishable with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine instead of mandatory sentence of death only
