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Abstract
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Celebratory firing/happy firing is considered to be a symbol of power and masculinity. In India, it is culturally accepted in many parts during a wedding procession. The present article describes a case of death of a teenager who sustained gunshot injury while attending her relative's marriage and succumbed to death and describes the prevalence of such customs existing in the society and the various measures taken by the government and policy makers to prevent such acts and to protect every life which is lost to activities that bring only momentary pleasure.
India is a country where celebrations and festivals are a major part of its rich culture, and people of this country take immense pride in conducting such occasions in their own unique and distinct ways. In the Diwali of 2019, when all were celebrating the festival with the usual lighting of lamps and crackers, one businessman from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, and his wife were seen firing on air which had gone viral on social media and is heard saying "Tera kya hoga Kalia"--a filmy dialogue from the famous Bollywood movie "Sholay". All the residents of the area became terrified and rushed indoors to safety, and this stunt was only done to stand out differently from the other people.1
Firearms are considered to be a sign of masculinity and a sense of chauvinistic pleasure and feeling of superiority and power. Weddings are the most common occasions of such demonstrations along with extreme spending of money on food and alcohol. And to make matters worse, those involved in these activities are usually drunk making these activities more dangerous. Ricocheting is also another factor, where the person will be firing on air but the pellets after hitting a surface will be turning back to the crowd. Other than this malfunction of a firearm which includes misfire, delayed discharge and insufficient or incomplete discharge to mechanical malfunctions such as stovepipe, hammer follow, or double feed can cause death while celebratory firing...
Keywords: Celebratory gunfire
Language: en |