E-Paper
Aryan Khan's ordeal opens legal debate
Aryan Khan is not alone in suffering he rigours of the law and the procedure that it entails
The 25-day ordeal of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan in a drug consumption case has thrown open a legal debate on whether the Supreme Court should lay down guidelines to distinguish betw-een small consumers or those found in the company of small consumers and the carriers, who are part of drug syndicates.
Legal experts feel that traditionally, the stringent Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) was used to check traffickers, drug peddlers and people procuring and transporting a large quantity of narcotic drugs.
Such investigations, therefore, warranted the trial courts to exercise their discretion in granting bail with utmost caution. But since the Act makes consumption or possession of even small quantity of drugs an offence, the line of distinction has faded.
Senior advocate KV Vishwanathan said: “There is a need to categorise and distinguish small consumers of drugs from carriers who are part of international drug mafia. How can all categories of offenders under the broad rubric of NDPS be put in the same boat? There is a need for a graded mechanism for adjudicating bail applications in NDPS cases. The Supreme Court should step in and lay down guidelines so that this area of discretion exercised by courts below is guided by certain principles in matters of grant of bail.”
He lamented that the principle of ‘bail and not jail’ is reversed to ‘jail and not bail’. “One must also see it from the perspective of whether keeping such persons in jail will reform them as they are victim themselves,” said Vishwanathan.
Aryan Khan is not alone in suffering he rigours of the law and the procedure that it entails. Although the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) did not recover contraband from his possession, based on WhatsApp chats, he was sought to be linked to a drug syndicate and accused of consuming charas at a rave party onboard a Goa-bound cruise ship. Similar charges were pressed against Bollywood actor Rhea Chakraborty who was accused of procuring and financing drugs for her boyfriend and film actor Sushant Singh Rajput. A month after her arrest, she secured bail from the Bombay High Court on October 7, 2020.
Kannada film actress Ragini Nayak had to suffer the same fate after the Karnataka police alleged she was part of a drug syndicate responsible for supplying and transporting drugs. She was arrested on September 4, 2020 and had to wage a protracted legal battle to secure bail from the Supreme Court on January 21 this year.
Former Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh seconded the view for framing guidelines on bail under NDPS cases. “When it comes to liberty of citizens, the Supreme Court has stood up and exercised its extraordinary powers to cut discretion of police and law enforcement agencies to arrest a person.” “If the quantity of narcotic drug involved is of small quantity and is meant for personal consumption, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, while reviewing the NDPS Act, issued a circular last week to end punishment for offences under this category, treating them to be victims who require compulsory treatment and not jail,” he said.
Senior advocate Rebecca John said that Aryan should have been given bail two weeks ago by the trial court. “From a young man who had no possession and you have some artificial story relating to international conspiracy…Basically, NCB was snubbed by the high court today as they were not even allowed to complete their arguments. You can see how muddied this investigation has become with all the drama.”
Senior lawyer Vikas Pahwa said he is pained to see how a premier agency like NCB is focusing all its energies only on issues of consumption of small quantities by young individuals, instead of focusing on illicit traffickers of drugs in the country.
“The arrest, police remands and subsequent judicial remands of Aryan Khan in my view were completely illegal and beyond the provisions of code of criminal procedure. No offences under NDPS Act were made out against Aryan, since nothing was recovered from his person and there was no evidence of consumption by him. The allegations of conspiracy and illicit trafficking of drugs made against him for opposing his bail, look completely misplaced and without any evidence,” said Pahwa.
