On 27 Oct, a petition was filed before the Apex Court challenging the powers conferred as under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances, 1985 (NDPS). The rationale behind the plea is that the course of action in legal proceedings should be segregated for drug traffickers, peddlers & consumers under the NDPS Act. An Apex Court lawyer Jai Krishna Singh has challenged sections 27A, 35, 37, & 54 amongst other vires of the Act.
Singh's plea read, "The spirit behind the enactment of the NDPS Act was to secure the return of alleged drug users to society & cracking heavily on drug traffickers. But over the years, the spirit has been lost & alleged drug users including recreational users have become mostly the targets of the enforcement agencies overlooking the need to focus on alleged drug users' rehabilitation & keeping their identities covered".
'NDPS Act terms any (drug) user as addict' even if it's 'recreational use'
In the plea before the Top Court, Singh has sought 'urgent' suitable
amendments to aforesaid sections of the NDPS Act as it penalises
consumption as well as possession by users 'besides distribution',
manufacture & sale of any narcotic or psychotropic substance
'irrespective of its quantities'. Enumerating section 27 of the
legislation, Singh, in his petition, clarified that it provides for the
consumption of drugs while 27A provides for punishment for financing
'illicit trafficking' & harbouring offenders.
"Also, despite NDPS Act being so diverse, it still terms any user as an addict including the recreational users, & punishes personal consumption spelling out life long consequences for such users causing stigmatization," Singh's lea before the Supreme Court read.
'Drug consumers should be sent to rehabilitation centres'
Further, the plea said that an illegal drug trafficker & peddler
ought to be punished, however, the authorities should be sympathetic
toward drug consumers & the same should be eliminated from the
category of offence. Instead, the punishment should be scrapped down. As
per the plea, drug consumers must be regarded as victims of drugs abuse
& should be looked after. The plea implied that drug consumers
& offenders should undergo reformative theories of punishment rather
than deterrent ones; they should be sent to rehabilitation centres.
Plea challenges the spirit of NDPS Act
Furthermore, Singh's appeal referred to recent arrests made by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in relation to more than one Bollywood drug cartel which has seen the arrest of Shah Rukh Khan's son, Aryan Khan, amongst others.
The plea reads, "The way alleged drug users especially children from Bollywood were jailed on the charge of drug use & being part of a drug syndicate shows that the law was not implemented with the spirit which had motivated the enactment of the said NDPS Act".
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