Drug menace has completely ruined Punjab: High Court raps police

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, May 31

Amid claims of stringent measures by the police to deal with the threat of narcotics, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that drug menace has totally ruined Punjab, while calling for stringent measures to combat it.

“The menace of drugs has completely ruined the state of Punjab, which needs to be dealt with sternly,” Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu asserted, while hearing a bail petition in an FIR registered in November 2021 under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act at a police station in Mohali.

Justice Sindhu’s Bench was told during the course of hearing that the petitioner was nominated as an accused based on disclosure by a co-accused, from whom 1 kg heroin was recovered.

Justice Sindhu asserted the recovery was of a commercial quantity and cited Supreme Court’s observation that Punjab was severely affected by drug problems with entrenched drug lords. The apex court order, reproduced in the judgment by Justice Sindhu, said drug addiction posed a serious threat to the once vibrant state of Punjab. The courts, as such, ought to be highly circumspect while granting bail, especially to a repeat offender.

The Bench asserted it was of the considered view that the parameters of granting bail in a case under special statutes such as NDPS Act might not be liberally construed in the case before it.