CJI launches judiciary-led campaign against drugs

The judiciary on Saturday entered the fight against narcotics with Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant launching a month-long campaign aimed at combating drug abuse among youth.The initiative “Youth Against Drugs”, driven by the Punjab State Legal Services Authority, was virtually inaugurated from the District Jail, Gurugram, signalling a preventive intervention delivered before addiction turns into incarceration.The launch took place during the programme “Empowering Lives Behind Bars, Real Change: The New Paradigm of Correctional Justice”, in the presence of Supreme Court Judges—Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Augustine George Masih. Also present on the occasion were Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra, along with other Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Executive Chairman of the Authority Justice Mishra described the effort as a calibrated shift from mere punitive response to early-stage awareness. “Awareness today, prevents incarceration tomorrow,” the judge said, warning that drugs “do not merely destroy bodies, they destroy families, futures and faith”.

Justice Mishra said criminal jurisprudence did not fulfil its role unless reformation was embedded into enforcement. “Correctional justice, therefore, is not indulgence. It is public safety. Correctional justice is constitutional courage,” the Judge said.

The authority outlined a district-wise execution model involving schools, colleges, de-addiction centres, legal clinics, para-legal volunteers, doctors, NSS/NCC units and community forums.

The campaign has been structured into consecutive awareness phases, covering sensitisation, community mobilisation, youth-specific interventions and rehabilitation-tier support. Special legal literacy sessions inside prisons will explain NDPS consequences and connect inmates’ families to assistance mechanisms.

The campaign runs parallel to correctional reforms also launched and showcased during the event. Punjab activated long-term, certified skill-training inside jails through one of the largest coordinated reform blueprints in the region.

Eleven Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are being made operational across 24 jails, offering NCVET-certified electrician, COPA, plumbing, welding, bakery, sewing technology and cosmetology courses to nearly 2,500 inmates. Short-term NSQF-aligned modules include jute-bag making, mushroom cultivation, basic hardware training, fabrication and bakery skills.

Rehabilitation has been backed with in-prison employment exposure through petrol pumps operating in nine jails, a functioning inmate-run radio station Radio Ujala, yoga and sports programmes, and structured calling systems to maintain family ties. The Authority described this as “correction before recurrence”.