Drug dealers have destroyed Punjab youth, says CJI H L Dattu

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday took a serious view of the menace of drug abuse in Punjab and said henceforth, every appeal against conviction under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act would be scrutinized for possible enhancement of punishment to the guilty.
Declaring that drug peddlers and drug dealers deserved no mercy, a bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy said, “These persons have spoiled an entire generation in rural Punjab.”
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Appearing for an NDPS convict Mohinder Pal, advocate Rishi Malhotra pleaded that his client was merely the driver of a private passenger bus from which the conductor, Ravinder Singh, was caught with three kilograms of ‘charas’, a prohibited substance, in 2002.
The trial court had convicted both Mohinder and Ravinder and sentenced them to 10 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 1 lakh each. Ravinder did not appeal against his conviction. The SC’s dismissal of Mohinder’s appeal means he will now be taken into custody to serve out the remaining nine years of his jail term.
When Malhotra said his client was not the main accused and deserved leniency, the CJI said, “People like you have spoiled Punjab. Literally, drug peddlers and dealers have destroyed the youth of Punjab. This kind of cases should attract stringent punishment. These persons deserve no leniency.”
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Judiciary joining the fight against drug menace by promising stringent punishment against drug dealers and peddlers will help the establishment and the NGOs engaged in countering the spread of drug abuse in rural areas, especially those bordering Pakistan.
Even the Punjab government has admitted that “a problem that is threatening the future of generation next in rural Punjab is drug and substance abuse”. The central government had said a narcotic war had been unleashed from across the border.
According to NGO website alcoholrehab.com, “the extent of drug addiction in Punjab is alarming. Near border areas, the rate of heroin abuse among 15- to 25-year-olds is as high as 75% – the percentage is 73% in other rural areas throughout the region. A department of social security development of women and children suggested that as many as 67% of rural households in Punjab will have at least one drug addict in the family. There is at least one death due to drug overdose each week in the region.”
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Seizure of drugs in Punjab included heroin, opium, poppy husk and synthetic drugs. Punjab Police arrested 10,538 persons till July 2014 as against arrest of 16,821 persons in 2013 under NDPS Act. The conviction rate under NDPS Act filed against accused by Punjab Police rose from 70.8% in 2010 to 80.5% in 2013.