low conviction rate of the drug traffickers in Punjab is adding to the woes of the enforcement agencies and contributing to the growth of the illicit trade.
Though the exact number of cases where the accused got bail as the Punjab Police failed to initiate timely action is not known, the menace has not escaped the attention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.In more than one judicial pronouncement, the High Court has made it clear that the course of justice in the initial stages was changed due to lack of serious efforts. The observations in this regard are significant as prosecution of the accused is a vital part of the justice delivery system; and the punishment handed over the accused is vital also from the point of acting as a deterrent.
Only in March this year, the High Court virtually passed strictures on the investigating officer while granting bail to accused Sri Kant. The case is just an instance where the accused was benefited by the acts of the Punjab police.Taking up the matter, the High Court in fact asserted that the “things would have moved with speed and in right direction” had the investigating officer made “some efforts”. Similar observations found a mention in subsequent judgments also.
In Sri Kant’s case, the accused was booked on March 9, 2013, under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, after 200 capsules were allegedly recovered from him.His counsel told Justice Bharat Bhushan Parsoon of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the accused was entitled to bail as the prosecution had failed to present the challan or report under Section 173 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) within the stipulated period.
The maximum period stipulated for submitting challan in case an accused is in custody ranges between 60 and 90 days, depending upon the nature of offence. But the maximum period of 90 days has legislatively been increased to 180 days for certain category of offences under the NDPS Act.The submission of final report can again be postponed beyond 180 days in certain type of cases under the Act. But the extension is not automatic, and the process starts when the report of public prosecutor indicating the progress of the investigations is filed before the Special Court for drug cases.
The accused in the case in hand had claimed non-presentation of challan even after the expiry of more than 180 days. It later came to his knowledge that even the prosecution had moved an application for extension on the plea that chemical report from the laboratory had not been received.“Had some efforts been made at the level of the investigation officer even by invoking intervention of his senior officer in approaching laboratory director for getting the report at the earliest stating reasons for its early requirement, that is, necessity of filing the challan within 180 days of arrest, the things would have moved with speed and in right direction. In fact, there is no effort shown to have been made for obtaining analysis report from the laboratory even when six months were going to be over after sending the sample...
“Right to be released on bail under proviso to Section 167(2) CrPC is indefeasible. It is enforceable by accused from time of default till filing of challan...,” Justice Parsoon added.In another recent case, a prisoner convicted under the NDPS Act was out on parole to carry out some smuggling assignments, and was, in the process, arrested by the Police, speaking volume about the state of affairs.The Punjab police had arrested four persons including a prisoner Jasbir Singh, lodged in Amritsar Central Jail in connection with 2010 drug case and was out on a 42-day parole, with 24 kilo of heroin worth Rs120 crore in the international market 10 days before his parole was to end.
Jasbir, the main kingpin of the drug trafficking racket, was earlier arrested in 2010 with 54 kilo heroin worth Rs270 crore in the international market, and was undergoing 15-year imprisonment after his conviction. While in jail, Jasbir was in touch with drug smugglers and began smuggling from Pakistan after coming out on parole.Available figures also show that conviction rate under the NDPS Act is far from satisfactory. As nearly 9,000 cases under the NDPS Act were registered by the Punjab Police in 2012 with the arrest of around 10,000 persons, major share of cases are lying pending in various courts.
In a span of over nine months, from January to October 2013, over 3,300 FIRs were registered in cases related to drugs and 3,600 persons were arrested in the State for illegally possessing banned drugs.Daulewala village of Moga district has earned a nickname — ‘Drug capital of Punjab’ — where nearly 400 households has 390 cases registered against its residents pertaining to drug peddling and the NDPS Act in the past six years.
Time and again, the need to ensure conviction of those responsible for injecting this heinous trade among the state’s young blood has been stressed upon which may act as restraint for the drug peddlers, and traffickers.“The conviction rate of the NDPS Act cases needs to be improved which may check the drug trafficking to some extent... and the same can be improved by conducting specialised training programmes and strengthening of forensic science laboratories,” said a senior Punjab Police official while maintaining anonymity.
The cop stated that there were stringent provisions for punishment under the Act and to prevent its misuse and miscarriage of justice, there were additional mandatory requirements pertaining to arrests and recovery to be fulfilled by the investigating officers which can be highlighted in the training programmes.