Alarming Shift In Drug Abuse Towards Potent Substance, Cases Involving Manufactured Drug Must Be Dealt With Strictness: P&H High Court
The Punjab & Haryana Excessive Court docket refused to droop sentence of a person convicted for possessing 500 grams of heroin who had undergone custody of over 3 years, observing that drug menace, particularly involving manufactured medication, have to be handled the “utmost strictness”.
Justice Sumeet Goel mentioned, “It’s with profound concern that this Court docket takes judicial discover of the escalating drug menace that plagues our society, posing an insidious risk to public order, well being, and the very cloth of the nation. Whereas the scourge of substance abuse has lengthy been a problem, the proliferation and consumption of manufactured medication, notably cocaine and heroin, have exacerbated this disaster to an alarming diploma, demanding an unequivocally stringent response from all pillars of the State, not least the Judiciary.”
The Court docket famous “a discernible and alarming shift within the panorama of drug abuse in the direction of these extremely potent and illicitly manufactured substances.”
It additional noticed that the, intricate worldwide networks and operations concerned within the manufacturing and distribution of the narcotics underscore the deep-rooted involvement of organized legal parts thereby remodeling drug trafficking into an affront to nationwide safety and the rule of legislation.
Drug Dependancy And Alarming Surge In Legal Actions
It added that the Court docket can’t overlook the plain nexus between drug habit and the alarming surge in legal actions.
“Determined addicts often resort to petty and violent crimes to maintain their habits, thereby contributing on to elevated lawlessness and insecurity. The illicit drug commerce itself is a major driver of organized crime, corruption, and cash laundering, essentially undermining the integrity of governance and the rule of legislation. Economically, the burden is colossal, encompassing direct healthcare expenditures, misplaced productiveness, and the substantial allocation of sources to legislation enforcement and judicial processes,” added the bench.
On this backdrop, the Court docket mentioned that instances pertaining to the drug menace, particularly these involving manufactured medication, have to be handled the utmost strictness and resolve.
“The legislative intent behind stringent enactments such because the Narcotic Medicine and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act is unequivocally to discourage such actions and shield society from their devastating penalties.
Justice Goel highlighted that, “Judiciary bears a solemn accountability to uphold this legislative intent by guaranteeing that offenders are dropped at justice and that the penalties prescribed are meted out with a firmness commensurate with the gravity of the offence. “
The Court docket was listening to a plea for suspension of sentence whereby the appellant was convicted below Part 21(c) of NDPS, and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 10 years.
Amongst different grounds, the counsel for the applicant-appellant iterated that the applicant-appellant has been falsely implicated within the case as your entire story rests solely on the testimony of police officers, with no impartial witnesses having been related to or examined in the course of the course of the investigation or trial.
Furthermore, no forensic evaluation or chemical examination report has been produced to determine the purity or composition of the restoration substance which is an important issue below the NDPS Act, he added.
The Court docket famous that as per data the appellant has undergone precise custody of 03 years, 05 months and 28 days however on the similar time it can’t be overpassed the truth that the applicant-appellant was not granted common bail in the course of the pendency of trial on which account he had undergone incarceration for a interval of about 02 years, 01 month and 09 days.
Accordingly, the custody interval undergone by the applicant- appellant after his having been convicted by the use of the impugned judgment is a interval of roughly 01 yr and 04 months solely, it added.
Contemplating that the restoration of 500 grams of heroin, being a industrial amount below the NDPS Act, the Court docket opined that it “can’t be handled evenly and no mitigating circumstances has been proven that will persuade this Court docket to droop the sentence at this stage.”
Consequently, the plea was dismissed.
Mr. Arun Rana, Advocate for the applicant-appellant.
Mr. Durgesh Garg, AAG Punjab.
