SC Seeks To Know Of Steps Taken By Centre To Check Drug Abuse [Read Petition]

With the menace of drug abuse spreading its tentacles in India, the Supreme Court has sought to know from the Centre details of steps it has taken to create awareness about ill-effects of drugs and check its supply.

The court directed ASG Maninder Singh to file steps taken by the Centre in this regard.

The bench was hearing a PIL seeking the court’s intervention for a comprehensive policy to check cultivation, use and supply of narcotics.

The PIL filed by Kethireddy Jagadishwar Reddy, a resident of Tamil Nadu, prays for an action plan for creating awareness on the ill-effects of usage of narcotics, taking stringent action on suppliers of narcotics by strengthening the investigative mechanism, confiscation of properties of drug peddlers and discouraging promotion/ showing/ glorification of drug use in televisions and movies.

The PIL has made 18 parties as respondents, which includes Maharashtra, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Assam, Telangana, Goa, Rajasthan and Bihar.

Petitioner’s counsel D Mahesh Babu said despite the court’s detailed judgment in Bachpan Bachao Andolan vs Union of India, delivered on December 14, 2016, the governments have failed to do what was needed and sought implementation of the court’s directions.

In the said case, the Supreme Court had directed the Union government to:

 (i)       Complete a national survey and generate a national data base within a period of six months;

(ii)      Formulate and adopt a comprehensive national plan within four months, which will among other things also address the areas of immediate concern noted earlier; and

(iii)      Adopt specific content in the school curriculum under the aegis of NEP.

The petitioner said the data tabled before the Rajya Sabha in July 2016, during the Monsoon session of the Parliament, showed that India records about 10 suicides due to drug or alcohol addiction everyday.

“The data, provided by the National Crime Records Bureau showed that the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are at the top of the table of drug-related suicides. There were 3,647 such suicide cases in India in 2014, of which Maharashtra reported the highest, at 1,372, followed by Tamil Nadu with 552 cases and Kerala with 475. Punjab reported 38 such cases,” it said.

It also highlighted how illegal cultivation of ganja has been increasing due to the lack of vigilance in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and that the tribal population is engaged in such cultivation in the forest region due to lack of resources and other gainful employment.

The PIL also sought direction to the state government to ban pubs, hucca bars etc.