Two years after India launched Nirbheek, a handgun pitched as the country’s “first gun for women”, a state-run arms factory has launched a similar gun which it says is India’s lightest gun. The new .22-calibre revolver is named Nidar, it weighs a mere 250g (8.8 ounces) – that’s half of .32-calibre Nirbheek’s 500g (1.1lb); and it costs 35,000 rupees ($513; £357) – Nirbheek came with a steep price tag of 122,360 rupees ($1,990; £1,213).

Manufacturers say Nidar is made with an aluminium alloy which makes it very light, but has “strength similar to steel”, it has a 40-mm barrel and is just 140mm in length which makes it “small enough to fit into a palm”. Both Nirbheek and Nidar are synonyms of Nirbhaya – the nickname given by the Indian press to Jyoti Singh, the 23-year-old victim of December 2012 fatal gang rape on a bus in in Delhi. All three words mean fearless in Hindi.

Source BBC

They are produced by government-owned factories, and their manufacturers say carrying them will make people more confident and “fearless”.

Most places in India do not allow guns – even the licensed ones – and there are metal detectors at many offices, malls, cinemas, markets and other public places to enforce this. So even if “professional Indian men and women” were to get a gun, it will be of little use to them because they will not be able to carry it around with them.