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Punjab govt should accept BSF’s recommendation on drug offenders, says governor Banwarilal Purohit
Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday said the AAP government must accept the Border Security Force’s (BSF) recommendation of taking habitual offenders of drug smuggling in the border areas into preventive detention
Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday said the AAP government must accept the Border Security Force’s (BSF) recommendation of taking habitual offenders of drug smuggling in the border areas into preventive detention.
Purohit’s remarks came on a day when the Punjab and Haryana high court directed the state government to apprise it of steps taken after a report submitted by the Border Security Force (BSF) about 75 individuals suspected to be involved in drug trafficking.
Purohit, who was addressing the media persons at the UT Secretariat in Sector 9 said, said, “It is a matter of shame that the high court is questioning the government about receiving a list of people and not taking action against them.”
In response to a question about village defence committees formed in villages of six border districts in Punjab to combat the drug menace, Purohit said that such committees should be established in every village across all districts of the state.
The bench of acting chief justice Ritu Bahri and justice Aman Chaudhary took suo motu cognizance of news reports on the issue and directed the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to file a status report giving details of persons suffering from drug addiction in Punjab and Haryana.
Replying to a question on the recommendation by the BSF that repeat offenders of drug smuggling in border areas should be taken into preventive detention, Purohit said, “Whatever the BSF has recommended is a valid action that has to be followed and that must be followed.”
BSF special director general, Western Command, Yogesh Bahadur Khurania had said on Monday that his force had recommended the Punjab government to take habitual offenders of drug smuggling in the border areas into preventive detention. The BSF has also given a list of habitual offenders to the state government for their preventive detention, he added.
The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988, provides for preventive detention of such repeat offenders.
