India, Aug. 3 -- PRAYAGRAJ The Allahabad high court has ruled that a licensed firearm cannot be used for "joy firing" during weddings or religious festivals, emphasising that every arms licensee is duty-bound to maintain proper records of cartridges purchased and used.

Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery, while dismissing a petition filed by one Akhilesh Kumar, refused to interfere with the cancellation of arms licence issued to him, after the holder failed to account for 757 missing cartridges.

The court said that an arms licence is a privilege subject to strict statutory compliance and upheld the orders of both the licensing authority and the appellate authority.

"An arms licence being a privilege is only issued when the petitioner under...