Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court lately ruled that empty cartridges would not be considered ‘ammunition’ under Arms Act.
Citing Rule 2(12) of the Arms Rules, 2016, Justice Satyendra Kumar Singh noted that empty cartridges may, at most, be considered to be minor ammunition, whose possession is specifically exempted under Section 45(d) of the Arms Act for any punishment.
While delivering a ruling in a case, the judge noted that the prosecution itself alleged against the applicant that he was found to have two empty cartridges ie fired cartridges.
“As empty cartridges neither contains any explosive, fulminating or fissionable material or noxious liquid, gas or other such things, therefore, the submission made by the counsel for the applicant has force that empty cartridges will not fall under the definition of ‘ammunition’,” the judge said.
It is to be noted that when the luggage of the applicant was checked at the city airport two empty cartridges were in it. When quizzed, the applicant stated that he had picked them up from a shooting range abroad.
The applicant was registered for an offence punishable under Section 25 of the Arms Act. To this, he had moved the court.
Relying on the provisions under the Arms Act and Arms Rules 2016, the applicant argued that even empty cartridges would not come under the preview of the term cartridge. With this submission, he had urged the court to order for quashing an FIR filed against him.
After listening to all parties, the court found merit in the arguments put forth by the applicant and ordered for quashing FIR against him.
