Fissiparous Forces Have Unleashed Drug War To Achieve Ultimate Goal To Balkanise India: Uttarakhand HC

The Court took note of the Narcotics Control Bureau of India website where it said that the drug traffickers are taking the help of technological innovations such as darknet and drones to challenge drug law enforcement agencies but it complained of unprofessional and faulty investigations.

The Court was hearing a Criminal Appeal against the judgment where the Appellant was convicted for the offence under Sections 8/20 of the NDPS Act, 1985 and sentenced to undergo five years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of ₹10,000/-.

The bench of Justice Vivek Bharti Sharma observed, “It is a matter of common knowledge that the fissiparous forces inimical to the country have unleashed the war of drugs to achieve their ultimate unholy goal to balkanise India.”

Advocate Aditya Pratap Singh appeared for the Appellant and Assistant Government Advocate Pankaj Joshi appeared for the Respondent.

The Court said that investigation in all criminal matters, especially, when an offence is punishable under the NDPS Act, should be conducted with utmost care, caution and diligence by ensuring the compliance of all the mandatory statutory provisions.

The Court noted that in the present case, the Investigating Officer had failed in the discharge of his duties and so the Government Counsel, who had concluded the evidence of the prosecution and advanced the arguments, by not making an application under Section 311 Cr.P.C. to summon these two witnesses.

The Court observed, “whenever any case property is adduced in evidence, then every Court shall ensure that before opening it, all the description stated on that sealed cover, like case number, description etc. should be noted down in the evidence of that witness in inverted commas without missing any full stop or comma. Only after noting down the description mentioned on that sealed packet containing the case property, it should be opened and proved.”

While complaining about the unprofessional and faulty investigations, the Court observed, “In majority of time such faulty and unprofessional investigations lead to the acquittal of accused persons in serious offences. This situation is not only unfortunate but dangerous also because acquittal from charge of such serious offences not only emboldens the acquitted persons but the deterrence element of punitive provisions also loses its force.”

The Court said that to preclude such an unfortunate situation, it is very necessary that personnel of the investigative wing of police undergo refresher courses and training from the expert persons/officers which according to the Court is the need of the hour.

The Court allowed the Appellant on bail and listed the matter for further hearing.