In the mid of 2018, we received a case record lodged under the Arms Act, 1878. The accused person was alleged to carry a trigger-less arms in his possession. Police recovered the said arms while arresting him.

Arms include any parts therewith under section 4 of the Arms Act. But a trigger-less arms is unserviceable as it can’t fire. We aimed to raise the plea before the High Court Division. In this regard, we had to find out a decision taken earlier on a similar circumstance.

After conducting a thorough research, we came across the following judgment decided by the High Court of Madras about 150 years before. The Court did not convict the accused for carrying unserviceable-trigger-less arms. The Court held the following:

“In including parts of arms in the meaning of arms, the Legislature intended, in our opinion, to provide against the importation and retention of arms in parts which might be put together at any moment and used as firearms. A firearm which is defective and otherwise unserviceable is not, we think, within the meaning of the Act.”