IMPORTANT POINT
Once an accused is found guilty for the offence committed under Section 25(1)(a) of the Arms Act, he has necessarily to undergo the minimum mandatory sentence, prescribed under the Statute.

JUDGMENT

K.S. Radhakrishnan, J.-Leave granted.

2. Proliferation of arms and ammunition, whether licensed or not, in the country disrupts the social order and development, vitiates law and order situation, directly contributes towards lethality of violent acts which needs to be curbed. We are sorry to note the law enforcing agencies and to certain extent the courts in the country always treat the crimes lightly without noticing the havoc they can create - to the ordinary peace loving citizens of this country and to the national security and the integrity and the unity of this nation. We may indicate, the case in hand shows, how casually and lightly, these types of cases are being dealt with by the courts.

3. ASI S.S. Gaur and P.P. Mrigwas while on patrol duty apprehended that the accused on 13.09.2005 at 8.30 pm while they were coming from Bakaniya to Mrigwas Road, Guna, M.P. The accused was found to be in possession of country made barrel gun with two round bullets and 50 grams of explosives, without any licence. The accused was charge-sheeted for the offence punishable under Section 25(1)(a) of the Arms Act, 1959 (for short ‘the Arms Act’) and was tried before the Court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Chachoda. From the side of the prosecution seven witnesses were examined. After considering the oral and documentary evidence, the court came to the conclusion that the accused was guilty of the offence under Section 25(1)(a) of the Arms Act and on sentence, the court passed the following order:

“There is no previous crime in the name of the accused and certainly the accused is the first time offender but from the possession of the accused a rifle was found illegally in his possession, therefore, it is not proper to adopt a lenient approach towards the accused. Only in view of the time taken by the trial and the time already spent by the accused in custody, the accused is not punished with the maximum punishment and, therefore, the accused Ayub Khan is sentenced - to one year of R.I. and a fine of Rs.100/- for the offence punishable u/w 25(1)(a) of the Arms Act.”

4. The Court then noticed that the accused was in custody from 14.9.05 to 20.9.05 and the said period was deducted from the original sentence applying Section 428 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

5. Aggrieved by the said order the accused filed Criminal Appeal No.170 of 2008 before the Additional Sessions Judge, Chachoda on the ground that the conviction of the accused under Section 25(1)(a) of the Arms Act was illegal and that the accused had not committed any offence. The Additional Sessions Judge, however, vide his order dated 9.7.2008 confirmed the conviction and the sentence awarded by the Chief Judicial Magistrate. The accused then filed Criminal Revision No.472 of 2008 before the Hon’ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Bench at Gwalior. The High Court confirmed the order of conviction passed by the trial court but so far as the sentence is concerned, the High Court passed the following order on 15.01.2009:

“so far as the period of sentence is concerned, looking to the limited prayer made by the counsel for the petitioner and the nature of offence and the fact that the petitioner has already served substantive period of jail sentence the purpose would be served in case the jail sentence awarded to the petitioner is reduced to the period already undergone, subject to depositing fine of Rs.5,000/- within a period of two months, in default the - petitioner shall suffer jail sentence awarded by the Learned Court below.”

6. Aggrieved by the said order, the State of Madhya Pradesh has approached this Court.

7. Learned counsel appearing for the State submitted that the High Court and the courts below have committed an error in not awarding the minimum statutory sentence to the accused, even after, convicting him for an offence committed under Section 25(1)(a) of the Arms Act. Learned counsel submitted that as per the said Section the minimum statutory sentence i