The Delhi High Court has quashed the FIR against a woman for possessing a live cartridge in her bag while stating that there is no material to believe that she was in conscious possession of the said ammunition.
A single-judge bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru pronounced its decision on an appeal filed by Mitali Singh challenging the FIR lodged against her by Delhi Police under Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959. She was allegedly found in possession of a live cartridge in her luggage bag while she was waiting to board a flight from Delhi to Pune (Vistara UK-971) on 01.01.2020.
She has submitted before the Court that she had purchased that bag from a street vendor and didn’t check it before use.
She further claimed that she had no clue as to how the said cartridge (7.6 cms in length and 1.5 cm in diameter engraved of 8MM KF on the bottom) found its way in her baggage.
She averred the only possibility is that the said cartridge was already in the luggage, when she had purchased it from the street vendor.
The Court noted, that inquires in this regard have been conducted and this court is informed that there are no circumstances, which would cause doubt, as to the explanation provided by the petitioner. It further said that in number of decisions held that the conscious possession of an ammunition is sine qua non to prosecute the possessor under the Arms Act, 1959. The Court reiterated the number of decisions given by it in similar cases.
Accordingly the Court has quashed the FIR against her.
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