Delhi HC orders quashing of FIR against man for possessing live cartridges

New Delhi [India], January 1 (ANI): The Delhi High Court has ordered the quashing of a First Information Report (FIR) registered under Arms Act while noting that the suspect was not conscious that he was in possession of live ammunition.

The FIR was filed by Delhi Police against Adhiraj Singh Yadav for possession of live cartridges in his hand baggage while boarding a flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad in 2019.

The Delhi High Court decided to quash the said FIR after Additional Standing Counsel gave a clean chit to the petitioner through a status report and submitted that there is no material to doubt the explanation provided by the petitioner.

The Bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru on Thursday stated, "Court considers it apposite to allow the petition as this court is of the view that the same would meet the ends of justice. Accordingly, FIR No. 0135/2019 under Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959 registered with Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport police station and all proceedings emanating therefrom are quashed."

The plea stated that the FIR was registered on April 7, 2019 after 20 live cartridges were seized from the hand baggage of the petitioner Yadav while he was to board a Vistara Airlines flight for travelling from Delhi to Ahmedabad.

The petition said that Yadav is an engineering student and had appeared for Air Force Common Admission Test. He was scheduled to travel to Ahmedabad for appearing in the interview. The petitioner stated that he had borrowed the hand baggage from the wife of his landlord Colonel Prashant Gupta. It was submitted that his family and that of Colonel Gupta were very close and since the petitioner was to travel to Ahmedabad and he did not possess suitable luggage, he had borrowed the same.

The landlord was not aware of the same and therefore had not removed the live ammunition from the luggage before handing it over to the petitioner. The said live ammunition belongs to Colonel Gupta who also holds a valid arms licence, the plea said.

While passing the order, the court noted that the status report has been verified. During the course of the investigation, the seized ammunition was sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for ballistic examination and opinion, which also confirmed the facts. It is well settled that an offence under Section 25 of the Arms Act would not be made out in cases where the suspect was not conscious that he was in possession of live ammunition, the court said. (ANI)