SHANTANU YADAV RAO Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Would a live cartridge seized from the bag of a passenger during the security check at the airport without seizure of any corresponding fire-arm amount to an offence under the Arms Act, 1959 (for short 'the Act') arises for determination in this case.

(2.) Petitioner is a businessman from Maharashtra. He possesses a license to possess arms within his State. His daughter is a Commandant Pilot, serving in Air India stationed at Kannur in Kerala. On 4/4/2019, while waiting to board the flight from Kannur Airport to return to his home State after spending time with his daughter, his baggage, when subjected to screening was detected with a live cartridge of 0.32 calibre. Though petitioner claimed ignorance of the live cartridge and how it came to be in his bag, an FIR was registered as Crime No.6 of 2019 of Airport Police Station, Mattannur, alleging offences punishable under Sec. 3 and 25(1B)(a) of the Act. After the final report was filed, the Judicial First Class Magistrate's Court, Mattannur, took cognizance of the offence as C.C. No.236 of 2021.

(3.) Petitioner alleges that he has an unblemished track record and has never been involved in any criminal case in his entire life, and is also holding an arms licence valid within the State of Maharashtra. Petitioner contends that he was not in conscious possession of the ammunition for attracting the offence under Sec. 25 of the Act. It was also contended that a single live cartridge without a corresponding fire-arm is a minor ammunition which is protected under clause (d) of Sec. 45 of the Act, and hence an offence is not at all made out. Petitioner also contended that even if it is assumed that there was any recovery of a live cartridge, the same was not within the knowledge of the petitioner, and it must have remained in the bag, inadvertently.