DISHA LANGAN Vs. DIRECTORATE OF REVENUE INTELLIGENCE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition has been filed seeking quashing of the Criminal Complaint filed by the respondent/Directorate of Revenue Intelligence [Hereinafter referred as 'DRI"] for offences punishable under Ss. 132 and 135(1)(a) and(b) of The Customs Act, 1962 [Hereinafter referred as 'Act"], against persons including the petitioner herein, and for quashing of the order dtd. 22/10/2018 passed by the learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Court, New Delhi under Sec. 204 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 taking cognizance and issuing summons to the petitioner.

(2.) As per the complaint filed by the DRI, after obtaining sanction for prosecution from the Sanctioning Authority, three persons, including one Mr. Anil Kumar Langan, father of the petitioner herein, were intercepted at the IGI Airport on 29/4/2017 on the basis of a specific intelligence to the effect that a syndicate was involved in smuggling of arms and ammunitions from Slovenia to India and that members of the said syndicate would be arriving at Terminal-3, IGI Airport, New Delhi, carrying prohibited items by way of concealment either in their hand/checked-in baggage or on person to try to smuggle the same without declaring before the Customs and without payment of customs duty leviable thereon. Further, the father of the petitioner utilized the petitioner's Arms and Ammunition License [Hereinafter referred as 'License"] issued by the Delhi Police and the Renowned Shooter Certificate issued by the National Rifle Association of India [Hereinafter referred as 'NRAI"] for importing weapons using bogus Invoices and by suppressing the true value and description of the weapons, and without the recommendation of NRAI.

(3.) In the proceedings before the Senior Intelligence Officer, DRI, the petitioner in her statement under Sec. 108 of the Act, recorded on 20/6/2017 submitted that on the date of incident i.e., 29/4/2017, she was not in Delhi and was at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat [where she was studying at that point of time]. She further stated that she never ordered any import of arms as it was her father who procures them on her behalf. She further submitted that as she was only concerned with the shooting competitions, and all arrangements qua the arms and their procurement were made by her father, she was also not aware of the quantum of arms in her name as all the paperwork was handled by her father.