FIR against US national quashed

BENGALURU: The high court on Monday quashed an FIR and case proceedings against Thomas Jeffery Kidd, a US national. A case had been registered in April this year by Bengaluru International Airport police against Kidd after he was found carrying a live bullet in his baggage.
As per the FSL report dated June 23, 2015, the bullet recovered was a live 0.22 caliber cartridge and legally manufactured, and can be fired up to a distance of 100 yards.
"The petitioner was not aware of the bullet lying in the handbag and it must have been left there due to inadvertent oversight," Justice AN Venugopala Gowda said in his order.
He further added that Kidd's plea appeared to be bonafide as he ad made no attempt to conceal the bullet and that the bag had passed through different airports from April 13, 2015 to April 23, 2015 and nowhere was the bullet detected. The judge observed, "I am convinced that the petitioner was not aware of the presence of the bullet in his handbag till its detection by security personnel during screening at Kempegowda International Airport. Therefore, it was not a conscious possession."
The judge said no offence was made out against the petitioner under section 25(1-B)(a) of the Arms Act, read with section 10 of the Aircraft Act, and as such allowing continuance of the proceedings against him will be abuse of the process of law.
While quashing the FIR and pending proceedings against Kidd before the JMFC, Devanahalli, the judge also directed refund of the Rs 10,000 amount deposited by him when he was granted conditional bail.
Kidd, a systems administrator from North Carolina, claimed he was a gun enthusiast and a certified trainer in handling weapons, and was used to carrying bags containing sports accessories. He had come to the city for an assignment at Cisco Systems and stayed here from April 14 to 23. After the training programme, he went to KIA on April 23 to catch a flight back to the US as per his itinerary. That's when the bullet was discovered.
The CISF police detained him, seized his passport and lodged a complaint with local police. He was enlarged on bail after he executed a personal bond for Rs 20,000 apart from offering Rs 10,000 as security.