The Delhi High Court in Namanpreet S Dhillon v/s State has quashed an FIR registered against a US citizen found in possession of live ammunition at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi, without any valid licence.
The facts, in brief, are that the Petitioner is a U.S Resident, holder of U.S Passport No. 546351425 and visited India as his grandmother was not well and also for celebrating Diwali with his family. He was travelling from New Delhi to Chicago on 15.11.2021. He was subjected to a physical search at the IGI airport and was found in possession of one Ammunition. Upon being asked to produce valid documents for the ammunition, the accused/petitioner was unable to show the same. Thereafter, an FIR was registered against him. When he was interrogated by the duty officer at the police station, IGI he revealed that he had no knowledge of the kind of bullet recovered from his baggage.
His counsel has submitted in the court that the petitioner’s tayaji had used his licensed gun in celebratory firing during Diwali and one of the cartridges inadvertently remained in the pocket of trouser of the petitioner. The Petitioner himself was surprised and shocked when the 1 live ammunition was discovered from him and therefore, the possession of the live ammunition was not a ‘conscious possession’.
The Court relied upon a judgement passed in Adhiraj Singh Yadav Vs. State decided on 31.12.2020 in which it was observed that “............ 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.”
In ‘Mitali Singh v. NCT of Delhi & Anr., a similar observation was made. It reads thus:
“8. The courts have in a number of decisions held that the conscious possession of an ammunition is sine qua non to prosecute the possessor under the Arms Act, 1959.”
In light of these observations, the FIR against the petitioner was quashed by the Court but since the police machinery has been put in motion on account of the acts of commission &
omission on behalf of the petitioner and useful time of the police which could have been utilised for important matters has been misdirected towards these petty matters, therefore, the petitioner was directed to do some social good for society. He was asked to provide a kit to each student of a primary school (MCD School or a Government School, comprising of minimum 200 students) consisting of 50ml of Mosquito Repellent and 50 ml of Hand Sanitizer.