Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: June 17, 2022 at 15:33 IST
The Bombay High Court quashed the criminal proceedings filed against a woman in 2016 under Sections 3 and 25 of the Indian Arms Act after a live cartridge was discovered in her hand luggage at Mumbai Airport.
A Bench of Justice Milind N Jadhav and Justice SS Shinde quashed the proceedings, saying, “…we are of the considered opinion that possession of the live cartridge in the hand bag of the Petitioner could not be to mean that she was in conscious possession of the live cartridge and further in the absence of recovery of the firearm/weapon, the benefit of doubt needs to be given to the Petitioner in the facts and circumstances of the present case.”
Dr. Leena Ashay Nandeshwar had scheduled a trip to Kochi with her husband and children in December; flight tickets from Mumbai to Kochi had been booked, and during screening, ASI Daya Ram Meena discovered and collected one live cartridge from the hand luggage.
Officers asked Dr. Leena to open her bag, where they discovered one “K.F.” and one “32S&WL” live cartridge. She informed security that she had no knowledge how the alleged live cartridge was discovered in her bag because she did not have an arms licence to hold any weapon.
In her defence, Dr. Leena stated before the police that she was a resident of Sangli and that adjacent to her residence was a police station and firing range, and that the alleged bullet was found and picked up by her small daughter, who carried it to her house and kept it in her handbag.
The High Court observed that the investigation had been completed from all possible angles after examining the chargesheet.
Noting that Dr. Leena was unaware of the presence of the live cartridge in her bag until it was discovered during screening, the Court observed that the term “possession” used in sections 3 and 25 of the aforementioned Act related to “conscious possession,” not “unconscious possession, unintentional possession, or possession unknown to the person’s knowledge.”
Apart from that, it is stated that just the live cartridge was discovered, and no weapon or firearm was recovered from the Petitioner’s baggage, the Court remarked while quashing the criminal proceedings.