The Kodavas, an ethno-lingual community from Karnataka’s Kodagu district, are one of the few in India that are allowed to possess and carry firearms within the district. Now, the Ministry of Home Affairs has extended the special provision that exempts the community from getting a gun license till October 31, 2029.
This applies to any person who is ‘Coorg by race’ and every Jamma tenure holder in Kodagu.
“The arms or ammunition carried or possessed by any person being Coorg by race and every Jamma tenure holder in Coorg and herein exempted whilst residing or travelling outside the district of Coorg shall not exceed one rifle with 100 rounds of ammunition for the same and one smooth bore breech or muzzle loading gun with 500 cartridges or the equivalent in leaden shot and gunpowder,” according to the order issued through gazette notification on October 29. It was signed by Joint Secretary SCL Das.
A petition filed in the Karnataka High Court in 2015, revived in 2018, threatened the privileges enjoyed by the community. The exemption has been in place for the last 158 years. The petitioner in the case, Chethan YK, a retired army captain from Kodagu, argued that the exemption amounts to discrimination on the basis of caste.
The Kodava community has a long history with guns, and historians say that their culture is intrinsically linked with firearms. There are festivals in which gunshots are fired in the air, and a gun salute is performed when a child is born or a person dies.
The British had granted the exemption for the people of Coorg to possess firearms in 1861. The exemption was then issued by the Union government in 1963 under the provisions of the Indian Arms Act, 1959.