Firecrackers in flight luggage land him in jail

The case of Omani national Al Hadi Badar Naseer Mohammed, 30, may come across as queer. Mohammed has already served 16 months of his five-year sentence for carrying firecrackers like sutli bombs and anaar on an aircraft. This, despite the consulate of Oman and his medical certificates stating that he is of unsound mind.

Arguing for the setting aside of his conviction before the Bombay high court, his advocate Majeed Memon said, “He should be sent back to his country and his people as he is mentally unstable.”

On July 23 last year, Mohammed was arrested by Sahar police after baggage scanners at
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport revealed the firecrackers in his bag. He was arrested and later underwent a trial after which he was convicted under the Criminal Procedure Code, Explosive Substances Act, the Aircraft Act, and the Aircraft (Carriage of Dangerous Goods) Rules, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by a sessions court.

Memon, however, told the court that the firecrackers found on Mohammed are easily available in the market and are used by children on festive occasions. “You do not need a licence even for sutli bombs?” justice Roshan Dalvi asked. To which, Memon said that they were available across the counter and are used during Diwali by revellers.

Mohammed’s appeal states that the trial court failed to consider the fact that he is mentally unsound and instead said that that if he was actually mentally unstable, he should not have been issued a visa to travel to a foreign country. “The exceptions in favour of a person of unsound mind were not adhered to and he was thus he was imprisoned for an even otherwise not so serious an offence,” his appeal states.

The court will hear the arguments of additional public prosecutor Anuradha Mane in the case at the next hearing on November 19.