BENGALURU: Ballari City BJP MLA G Somashekara Reddy has been convicted under the Arms Act for possessing a revolver unlawfully after the expiry of the licence. However, the court released him on ‘probation of good conduct' with certain conditions.
The case dates back to 2013, when the then DC of Ballari district had filed a complaint against Reddy, accusing him of possessing a .32 NP revolver from January 1, 2010, to November 9, 2011, even after the validity of its licence ended on December 31, 2009, and not depositing the same. A criminal case under the provisions of the Arms Act was registered against the MLA and the police submitted a charge-sheet.
During the trial, Reddy had defended that he could not renew the license due to work pressure and he was unaware of the last date of the licence’s validity, which was lost during the renovation of his house. The court observed that the defence was weak and nothing stopped the accused from lodging a complaint, as the licence was lost, and he cannot be so careless when dealing with a weapon.
The Special Court for the trial of cases filed against sitting and former MPs/MLAs pronounced Somashekara Reddy guilty of the offence, which has a minimum punishment of one year and may be extended to three years.
However, the defence counsel had invoked the Probation of Offenders Act (PO Act), seeking the release of the accused. “Taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case, the character of the accused, his age, his permanent abode and his antecedents, it is just and necessary to release him under Section 4 of the PO Act, instead of imposing sentence on him, as the same will not have a bad impact on society,” the court observed while releasing the accused.