Supreme Court of India · 1962-05-03
JIA LAL vs THE DELHI ADMINISTRATION
- Citation / case number
- SC 1961/56
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Petitioner
- JIA LAL
- Respondent
- THE DELHI ADMINISTRATION
- Bench
- SINHA, BHUVNESHWAR P.(CJ),GAJENDRAGADKAR, P.B.,WANCHOO, K.N.,AYYANGAR, N. RAJAGOPALA,AIYYAR, T.L. VENKATARAMA
Judgment text excerpt
The Supreme Court held that Section 29 of the Indian Arms Act, 1878, which required sanction for prosecution in certain territories but not others, violated Article 14 of the Constitution and was unconstitutional. Consequently, no sanction was necessary for the prosecution of individuals found in possession of unlicensed firearms, regardless of the territory. The Court ruled that the entire Section 29 must be struck down as it could not be severed to maintain a discriminatory framework, while Section 19 remained valid as a substantive provision.