New NDPS makes it easy for small-time drug peddlers

ahmedabad: remember when bollywood star fardeen khan was arrested outside an atm counter in mumbai while allegedly buying cocaine? he was booked under the narcotic drugs & psychotropic substances act, 1985, one of the most dreaded laws in the country. but his case was an exception where an offender caught with the contraband was granted bail. but now onwards the bail enjoyed by the star would probably be extended to all offenders.the ndps act 1985, which is used to check the drug menace in the country, has been amended and re-enforced since october 2 this year. while some feel the law has been diluted, others feel the misuse of the act to trap innocent people would be reduced. the act, frequently used against drug-peddling cases, was amended by parliament which granted discretionary powers to courts trying them and made it much more flexible. section 37 of the act, pertaining to bail, has also been amended to the benefit of the accused. earlier, no bail was allowed to any accused booked under the act. but the accused would now be entitled to bail depending upon the circumstances and quantity recovered. "unnecessary detentions will now be a problem," said a lawyer. the issue would now be decided on the grounds of quantity of the contraband recovered from the accused. the amended act categorises the seizure broadly into small and commercial categories. "the amount of the haul would again be left to the trial court," said senior advocate akhil desai, who is handling several ndps cases. in commercial seizures, however, bail may be denied. punishment as per provisions of the earlier act was a minimum 10 years of rigorous imprisonment if an accused is convicted of peddling. the quantity seized did not matter earlier. now onwards, the punishment would depend upon the quantity, small or commercial, seized from a peddler. according to desai, "depending upon the quantity and circumstances of the case the accused may either be sentenced for several years or just for a few days." the operations of the enforcement agencies have also been made more effective. "earlier the agencies were supposed to file a chargesheet in a case within 90 days, which has now been doubled," said sudhir brahmbhatt, a government counsel arguing ndps cases. the agencies have now been granted a period of 180 days to file chargesheets, subsequent to detailed investigation. provisions have also been granted under the new act to grant more time to the agencies, if required to file chargesheets. with the amended law coming into force, authorities fear the likelihood of small-scale peddling going up in the wake of the reduction in quantum punishment. the amendments are likely to benefit those accused in over 250 cases in gujarat, one the biggest hubs of peddlers in western india.