SC declares Arm’s Act provision ultra vires
The Supreme Court has struck down a provision of the Arms Act which enjoined mandatory death penalty for using prohibited guns, saying that it took away the Constitutional safeguards of judicial discretion in matters concerning capital punishment.
In a significant verdict, a bench of Justices A K Ganguly and J S Khehar declared Section 27 (3) brought into the Arms Act through an amendment in 1988 “ultra vires.”
“By imposing mandatory death penalty, Section 27(3) of the Act runs contrary to those statutory safeguards which give judiciary, the discretion in the matter of imposing death penalty. Section 27(3) of the Act is thus ultra vires, the concept of judicial review which is one of the basic features of our Constitution,” the bench said in the judgment delivered on February 1.
The provision was also against the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14 (Equality) and 21 (Right to Liberty) of the Constitution, the bench said. Unlike the provision of the Indian Penal Code, the court noted that the Section of the Arms Act did not contain any exception to the punishment.
The court said that mandatory death penalty as provided under the Arms Act has been found to be constitutionally invalid in various jurisdictions where there is an independent judiciary and the rights of the citizens are protected in a Constitution.
