In Modernisation Bid, UP Police Phases Out All Lee-Enfield .303 Rifles And Replaces Them With INSAS And SLRs

UP Police Director General O P Singh has revealed that the state’s police are retiring .303 Lee-Enfield rifles which they have been using since 1945, and these are being replaced by more modern rifles, reports India Today.

"In order to strengthen the state's law and order, 63,000 Insas and 23,000 SLRs have been sent to the police stations all over the state and the police personnel have been instructed not to use the Lee-Enfields. If a police station's staff is found using the Lee-Enfields, the reserve inspector of the concerned district's police line as well as the police station staff will face departmental action,” he said.

The .303 Lee-Enfield rifles were first adopted at the time of the First World War by the British military, and then later they were also given to the police in India. Although UP Police had started to receive SLRs from the 1980s onwards, it is only now that the :Lee-Enfield rifles are being totally phased out.

The rifles were considered old and prone to maintenance issues, and that is why the police have switched over to more reliable options.