The post The State Drug trafficking Law appeared first on KanglaOnline.com.
The talk of a state law to tackle drug trafficking, which is prevalent in the state is most interesting. The call for the bill which when passed by the Assembly would become law is set to contain stringent laws adhering to the already existent NDPS Act (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985) that applies across the country. The move for the state law that is centered around the word ‘stringent’ is telling considering that the NDPS Act in itself states: “to consolidate and amend the law relating to narcotic drugs, to make stringent provisions for the control and regulation of operations relating to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, to provide for the forfeiture of property derived from, or used in, illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, to implement the provisions of the International Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and for matters connected therewith.” Further, it is illegal for a person to produce/manufacture/cultivate, possess, sell, purchase, transport, store, and/or consume any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance under the Act. Apart from the NDPS Act, the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act passed in 1988 as a drug control law to enable the full implementation and enforcement of the NDPS Act. Under the said Acts, there are already terms of punishment cut out from six month onwards and more but the implementation aspect was where the state had stumbled earlier till huge drug consignments were seized and came to be widely reported bringing them to public domain and leading to public ire. This public ire has come about due to the involvement of security personnel of all hues operating in the state who are supposed to be involved in preventing drug trafficking in the first place. But even as the involvement of state security forces are out in the public domain, what is not talked about is how non state forces are also an active player in the drug trafficking process. A terminology ‘Narco-terrorism’ is increasingly a reality with drugs being the easiest means for procuring funds to finance armed movements or to be used as access to arms and ammunition.
With different state forces bent on searching each other and now with reports of civil society groups ‘raiding’ homes of police officials and seizing illegal drugs, it is a free for all of sorts. But drug seizures are neither a new phenomenon in the state nor the official mention of the state being a transit and conduit point for drug trafficking. Much before the regular occurrence of drug seizures became a common feature in the news flow, there were earlier instances of central armed personnel being involved in drug trafficking while one former Finance Minister was apprehended with Heroin in a neighboring state and served the sentence in jail. The spurt in drug seizures may well be an indirect impact of the spotlight on fake encounters in the state, which was earlier, a recurring event in the state. Also, the news of drug seizures helps build the image of a responsible state police force that is working effectively: though the irony of course, is that most seizures have netted security personnel. But if the State police are sitting easy thinking that they got the confidence of the people through their actions of swooping down on drug trafficking and ‘taking action’, that would be far off the mark for there are rumblings on the ground with most voices asking about what happens to the seized drugs.
Coming to the state specific law, it indeed it must come to being then there would be no point if the systems for its implementation are not structured on a strong note. More than a new Act focusing on stringent actions, it would be more pertinent to look at effective investigation processes to ascertain those who are hidden in the shadow of drug trafficking. For this to happen, there must be an autonomous board constituting of senior citizens and those whose track record are impeccable who are entrusted the task and the power of overseeing investigations that can then be made public. This board must be the repository of reports of the police investigation teams and take stock of the legal processes being taken up against those found to be involved in drug trafficking cases. As long as it is the police that makes up the sole body responsible for tackling drug trafficking in the state, there is every chance that not much headway can take place as is evident from the fact that all drug trafficking cases have only netted those moving the drugs from place to place but not zeroed in on to the wider network and the players involved.
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