Delhi Court acquits woman accused of carrying live cartridges at metro station

New Delhi [India], June 27 : Delhi's Karkardooma Court has acquitted a woman accused of carrying live cartridges at Seelampur Metro Station.

While acquitting the woman the court said a false implication can't be ruled out. A case was registered at the Shastri Park Metro police station against the woman in 2021.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Aashish Gupta acquitted accused Ritika giving her the benefit of the doubt. It was the case of the prosecution that two live cartridges were found in the bag of the accused during checking at the entry of the Metro station on November 15, 2021.

"False implication of the accused cannot be ruled out and thus the prosecution has failed to prove the allegations against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, the accused is acquitted of the offence u/s 25 Arms Act", the court said in the judgement passed on June 26.

The court noted that as per documents two cartridges with the inscription '.315' were seized in this case but the said inscription is not present on one of the cartridges.

"This raises a possibility of planting of the case property on accused or tampering with the same while it was sent to FSL or at the time of receiving the same from FSL or at FSL", ACMM Gupta observed in the judgement.

The court noted as per the seizure memo both the cartridges recovered from the accused bear the inscription '.315' over them. However, for the cartridges which were received from FSL, only one cartridge had the inscription '.315' over it, the court observed.

It was argued by the Counsel for the accused that the said cartridges were recovered from the backpack of the accused and there is a possibility that when the accused was in line to enter the station, somebody had put the said cartridges in her bag.

The court said that this possibility is also accepted by the IO during the cross-examination. It means that there is also, a possibility that the alleged cartridges may have been left in the bag

of the accused without her knowing.

"Be that as it may, the case of the prosecution is found containing material loopholes which hit at the root of the case and the benefit of any lacuna, left in the investigation has to be given to the accused," the court said in the judgement.

The court raised serious questions on the manner investigation was conducted and said, "In the present case, the accused was apprehended at a public place and public witnesses/passersby were available as per record.

The court further said that the public persons were not made witnesses to the investigation by police. No notice was served upon the public persons who allegedly refused to participate in the proceedings, it observed.

"Facts and circumstances of the case suggest that no sincere efforts have been made by the police officers to join independent public witnesses in the proceedings," the court said in the judgement.