Inform whether drug menace increasing or decreasing: HP High Court

Expressing serious concern on the issue of drug menace in the state, the HP High Court has directed the state government to file a chart of the cases registered under NDPS Act district wise for the last five years from January to December each year to demonstrate before the court whether the drug menace is decreasing or increasing?

A division bench comprising Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma further directed the state to file a composite affidavit regarding the issue of de-addiction and treatment centres/facilities at district level and the number of rooms which are available and the doctors and supporting staff for the said purpose.

The court passed this order while hearing a public interest litigation highlighting the issue of drug menace in the state.

During the course of hearing, it was brought to the notice of the court that as per the status report filed by the Director General of Police on July, 26, 2024, as many as 878 cases were registered up to June, 2024 under the ND&PS Act and 1212 accused have been arrested. Details have also been given of the seizure from 878 cases. Seventy seven cases have been registered against violators of illegal opium cultivation.

The area on which wild cannabis plants have been destroyed was to the extent of 27.05 bighas up to June 30, 2024.

Apart from it, it was also placed on record by the DGP that mobile phone application “Drug Free Himachal” has been launched. People can give information on this App without revealing their identity against drug peddlers and traffickers. Up to June 2024, nearly 172 informations had been received through this application, whereas 147 number of inputs have been collected through the state CID intelligence units. Training of Drug Law Enforcement Persons was stated to be conducted by the Police Training College, Daroh, Kangra.

The court directed the state to file the affidavit on or before May 27.