Drug recovery cases matter of national concern: Punjab and Haryana High Court

Drug recovery cases are not ordinary criminal matters but issues of “national importance” that warrant cautious judicial handling, the Punjab and Haryana High Court asserted while underlining the magnitude of the narcotics menace. The bench also made it clear that the drug menace could not be curbed without the adoption of stringent and uncompromising measures.

The assertion by Justice Anil Kshetarpal came in a case where an accused was seeking pre-arrest bail in a criminal case registered on February 26 under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act at the Passiana police station in Patiala district

Among other things, his counsel contended that the petitioner was sought to be implicated on the basis of a disclosure statement of a co-accused “admissibility whereof was doubtful”. The counsel representing the state, on the other hand, told the bench that the petitioner was involved in four more cases under the NDPS Act.

After going through the rival contentions and the case documents, Justice Kshetarpal asserted: “The cases pertaining to recovery of drugs are of national importance and are supposed to be decided with caution. The trafficking of drugs is a menace and is required to be addressed by taking stringent steps. Hence, the petitioner is required in custody to provide significant details that may be useful in discovering the supply chains of drugs”.

Refusing to grant the concession of pre-arrest bail, the court dismissed the petition, reiterating the necessity of a tough judicial stance in cases with such grave societal ramifications. The high court’s observations come amid a series of judicial interventions aimed at curbing the illegal manufacture and sale of narcotics in the region. In one of its earlier orders, the court had taken cognisance of large-scale drug recoveries and directed the CBI to constitute a SIT comprising officials from the Narcotics Control Bureau and state police forces. The Directors-General of Police (DGPs) of Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh were also directed to extend full cooperation to the central agencies.

Raising a red flag over the escalating threat, the high court has already termed narcotics smuggling not merely a law enforcement issue, but a deep-rooted socio-economic crisis steadily corroding the nation’s youth and economy.

Punjab