A man who had flown to New Delhi from Sharjah with a dagger in his baggage eight years ago has been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a year by a Delhi court for violating the Arms Act.
Bihar native Hafizullah was convicted by additional chief metropolitan magistrate Rajesh Kumar Goel who dismissed the argument of his counsel that the prosecution story cannot be believed in absence of any public witness to the recovery of dagger, saying that police records cannot always be assumed to be "untrustworthy".
"I do not find any merit in the argument of the defence counsel that in absence of the public witness to discovery of the dagger, the testimony of the police officials is liable to be rejected," Goel said while holding the accused guilty under the Arms Act and refusing to release him on probation.
Convict Hafizullah had come from Sharjah on July 31, 2003 and was on his way to catch a connecting flight to Patna, when the dagger was detected in his baggage in an X-ray examination during security checks at the check-in counter.
Hafizullah's counsel contended that there could be no question of his client carrying a dagger in his baggage as he had flown in from Sharjah where had gone all security checks and intended to go to Patna.
The court dismissed this contention saying that possessing a dagger within the jurisdiction of Sharjah may not be an offence, but it is an offence as per the Indian law.
As Hafizullah's counsel raised doubts over prosecution story due to lack of public witness, the court dismissed the contention saying that the police cannot always be doubted.
Quoting an apex court observation, the ACMM said, "We feel that it is an archaic notion that actions of the police officer should be approached with initial distrust. At any rate, the court cannot start with the presumption that the police records are untrustworthy."
Refusing to discard the police version in absence of any supporting public witness, the court said, "It is a common knowledge that in that (airport lounge) area only those persons, who are travelling, are available besides the staff posted there. Everybody is in a hurry and nobody will be interested to join the investigation or become a witness to the recovery."
It also refused to release the convict on probation and sentenced him to one year rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs500.
