E-Paper
Non-appearance of cops in drug trials, HC asks Punjab to give details of cases pending despite framing of charges for 2 yrs
Details were sought by the bench of justice Manjari Nehru Kaul on October 17 in the proceedings wherein the court had summoned the state’s home secretary and the director general of police on October 12 as it came to fore that in large number of cases cops, who were to appear in drug seizure cases as prosecution witnesses, have not been appearing for years.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought details from the state government about the drug cases pending in various courts, wherein even after framing of charges, prosecution evidence has not concluded for the last two years or more.
Details were sought by the bench of justice Manjari Nehru Kaul on October 17 in the proceedings wherein the court had summoned the state’s home secretary and the director general of police on October 12 as it came to fore that in large number of cases cops, who were to appear in drug seizure cases as prosecution witnesses, have not been appearing for years.
Non- examination of witnesses due to their absence leads to delay in trial, making a ground for the accused person to secure bail due to long periods of incarceration. Otherwise, securing bail in NDPS cases is not easy due to a bar in section 37 of the NPDS Act. Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act bars bail to a person booked in a case of seizure of a commercial quantity.
The Supreme Court, while dealing with Section 37 of the NDPS Act, has held that before granting bail, the court has to have “reasonable grounds” for believing that the accused is “not guilty” of the offence that they have been charged with and that they are unlikely to commit an offence under NDPS Act again while on bail. The second condition is granting the opportunity to the public prosecutor to oppose the bail.
Posting the matter for October 31, the bench has directed the home secretary to file the affidavit detailing about the cases pending for two or more years now. The court also gave one more opportunity to the state to file a detailed plan to address the issue of the non-appearance of cops in drug trial cases.
The plan was ordered to be submitted within 24 hours as per the October 12 order. However, when the hearing resumed on October 17, the state’s counsel sought one more opportunity for the same.
Seeking a detailed plan on October 12, the court had observed that the trend of cops not appearing as witnesses in drug cases gives rise to a genuine apprehension of cops possibly having an “unholy nexus” with the drug mafia.
“…the continuous absence of police officials/prosecution witnesses under the NDPS Act, does give rise to a genuine apprehension qua some of them possibly having an unholy nexus with the drug mafia, which needs to be curbed with a heavy hand without any further delay, failing which the situation could worsen beyond repair,” the bench had recorded on October 12.
