New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) Holding an arms licence is not useful if one cannot keep ammunition for it, a Delhi court has said while dismissing an appeal against the discharge of a man accused of carrying live cartridges in his bag at the Delhi airport.
Additional Sessions Judge Deepti Devesh was hearing a criminal appeal by the prosecution against the August 2023 order of a magisterial court, which had discharged the man booked under Section 25 of the Arms Act.
Section 25 prescribes penalties for a wide range of offences related to the illegal possession, acquisition, sale, or transfer of firearms and ammunition.
In an order dated October 28, the court said, “Holding an arms licence is not much useful if the accused cannot keep ammunition for use with the said arm.” “The ammunition has been recovered from the accused in this case, which clearly belongs to the same firearm for which the accused holds a valid licence,” it said.
The court said it was established that the accused had inadvertently left the cartridges in his travel bag, and the possession of ammunition was not illegal as he had a valid arms licence on the date of recovery.
It said, “Furthermore, his possession at the time of recovery is not a conscious possession.” Dismissing the appeal, the court underlined that during the proceedings, the accused had produced his original licence, which showed that the licence had been given for a 0.32 revolver.
The accused, Amit Chaudhary, was apprehended from the Indira Gandhi International Airport after five live cartridges were recovered from his bag during the security check in 2019. PTI SKM MNR MNR KVK KVK
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