Delhi High Court quashes case against man caught with live ammunition at IGI Airport; asks him to deposit ₹50k towards 'social good'

Stating that “conscious possession” is the most significant factor for prosecution under the Arms Act, the Delhi High Court quashed criminal proceedings against a man who was caught with a live cartridge at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in 2016 [Mohd Nazim v. State]..Justice Saurabh Banerjee underscored that only a single live cartridge was recovered from the petitioner, and that according to the records, it had been “inadvertently" left in his bag during travel. “In view of the factual matrix involved, this court is of the view that it is fit case to quash the FIR as the petitioner had no intention of carrying the ammunition,” the order stated..Counself for the petitioner argued that only a few days prior to the incident, he had travelled to Bijnaur to attend a wedding. There, he stayed at the house of a family friend, who had a verified license to bear arms issued by the Uttar Pradesh authorities. The friend had showed him guns and bullets, and during that time, one of the cartridges had fallen in his bag, only to be detected later at the airport. .After going through several judgments on the subject, the Court held,“Further, a co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Chan Hong Saik Thr. Spa: Arvinder Singh vs. State (2012) has held that when only a single cartridge or bullet is found in the possession of the offender, without any other suspicious circumstances, such possession shall not be enough to prosecute the offender, as a solitary cartridge is a minor ammunition, which is protected under clause (d) of Section 45 of the Arms Act, 1959.".The Court, however, noted that since the FIR had been pending for the last seven years and the police machinery was put in motion, it was appropriate for the petitioner to contribute towards the “betterment of the society by doing some social good”. “Accordingly, the petitioner is directed to deposit costs of ₹50,000 with the Regimental Fund Account, 3 Assam within a period of one week from today,” it directed on August 17..Advocates Aman Nandrajog, Amitabh Sinha and Anupam Pandey represented the petitioner.Additional Public Prosecutor Ajay Vikram Singh appeared for State..[Read Order]