Pointing a pistol at someone isn’t proof of intent to kill: Delhi Court

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has observed that merely pointing a pistol at someone cannot be treated as indicative of a definite intention to kill as it acquitted a man accused of attempting to murder a policeman in 2020.

The court, however, convicted the man under provisions of the Arms Act for illegal possession of a pistol and live cartridges. Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha was hearing a case against Sagar alias Rinku, accused of pointed his pistol towards a head constable, Rajesh Kumar, during a police raid in 2020.

In its order dated January 23, the court said, “The mere act of pointing the pistol towards (head constable) Rajesh, without anything more, cannot ipso facto be treated as indicative of a definite intention to cause death nor does it lead to the inference that in all probability the accused would have pulled the trigger of the pistol, had the other police officials not intervened.”

According to the prosecution, Sagar allegedly pulled out his pistol when police raided his place following information of his presence in the vicinity of Bhartiya Vidya Peeth with the motive to commit some crime on July 14, 2020.

Sagar was overpowered by the police when he pointed his pistol towards Head Constable Rajesh Kumar.

The court said that it was also possible that the accused only intended to frighten the policeman without any intention to shoot or kill him.

“It cannot be said that the act of the accused transcended the threshold required to constitute an attempt to commit murder. In light of the foregoing, the ingredients of Section 307 IPC (attempt to murder) are not satisfied,” the judge said.

According to the prosecution, pistol with three live cartridges inside it and three other live cartridges were recovered from the search of the accused.

An FIR was registered at Punjabi Bagh police station under IPC Sections 186, 353, 307 and 34, along with Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.

The court convicted Sagar alias Rinku under the Arms Act for possessing an illicit pistol and eight live cartridges, and listed the matter for sentencing arguments on January 29.