Woman acquitted in drugs case as she was searched in front of male officials

A Mumbai court acquitted a woman of drug possession charges after finding that she was searched in front of male officials, violating the NDPS Act. The woman was arrested and prosecuted for having 16 grams of heroin on her. During the trial, the prosecution could not bring independent witnesses to the process of the arrest and seizure of contraband material. The court noted that the search of the woman was carried out in the presence of male police officers, which is prohibited under the NDPS Act.

MUMBAI: A special NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) court recently acquitted a Govandi resident after it found out that she was searched in front of male officials for suspected possession of a narcotic substance. The court said the search was a violation of the mandatory provision of the NDPS Act wherein a woman cannot be searched in front of male police officials.

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The anti-narcotic cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police had arrested the woman, Jayda Banu alias Juli Javed Hussain, at Fort for alleged prosecution of 16 grams of heroin.

According to the prosecution case, on November 4, 2011, police constable Nilesh Pansare of the Azad Maidan unit of the ANC had received information that a lady - Jayda Banu - was to come to the Flora Fountain to sell heroin. Based on the information, the unit officials arranged a trap to apprehend the woman at the spot.

The police accordingly apprehended the Govandi resident when she came to Flora Fountain and found a plastic bag with her. A woman police officer who was part of the raiding team took the plastic bag, opened it and found heroin in it. It was claimed that the lady was taken to a public toilet and was subjected to a personal physical search. However, they did not find anything after the personal search.

The accused contended that head constable Keshav Dalvi, who investigated the case, admitted that members of the raiding party were present when her personal search was carried out. Referring to this, the accused further pointed out that as per the panchnama and the version of the witnesses, except for a lady panch and the woman police official, all the members of the police team and other panch were male and the woman was searched in presence of those men – which is prohibited under the NDPS Act.

Another police constable also admitted that Jayda was subjected to a personal search in front of a male police inspector and that the First informant report (FIR) did not mention that the accused was taken to a secluded place for search.

Considering the evidence on record, the court noted that the prosecution had not examined any independent panch witnesses and the testimony of the two police personnel who were part of the raiding party was contradictory. “Moreover, the search of the lady accused is carried out in gaze and in the presence of male police officers,” the special court said holding that this is in violation of the provisions of the NDPS Act.