Pardoned by court, US man goes free
The Andheri metropolitian magistrate court pardoned a US citizen Christopher Willis who was arrested and charged for possessing a bullet at the Santa Cruz airport. He can now return to his homeland.
Willis was travelling to India to work with a charity organisation that works on water preservation projects across Maharashtra.
On January 11, 2013, the Santa Cruz Airport police arrested the 28-year-old in the morning after he was found carrying a 0.40 mm live cartridge. Willis was on his way to Pune to work with a charity organisation.
He was found carrying the bullet by the CISF — in charge of the Airport security — when his bag was put in the X-ray machine.
He was immediately arrested and taken to the Airport police station. He was charged under Section 3 and 25 of the Indian Arms Act, 1958 and was produced before the 66th metropolitan magistrate court at Andheri, which remanded Willis to police custody till January 14, 2013. He was later granted bail and his passport seized.
Advocate Jay Bhatia, representing Willis, said, “The possession of bullet was not a conscious possession, as Willis was not aware that it was in his bag. Willis, who has acquired licence for the gun, had mistakenly carried the bullet in his bag.”
While passing the order, the metropolitan magistrate judge G.P. Ghondalekar said, “One can understand that a small bullet can remain in the bag or pocket due as a result of carelessness. Prima facie, it is clear that the possession of bullets might be due to negligence. Evidence about conscious possession is absent and therefore, relying on two cited cases, this is a fit case to discharge the accused.”
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