SC: Drug traffickers instruments in inflicting death blow to young victims

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that people dealing in narcotic drugs are instruments in inflicting death blow to innocent young victims who are vulnerable and cause deleterious effects on the society.

Smuggling of narcotics and psychotropic substances into the country and their illegal trafficking leads to drug addiction among a sizeable section of the public, particularly adolescents of both sexes, and the menace has assumed serious and alarming proportions, the apex court said.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said this in its judgement while dismissing an appeal filed against the November 2019 verdict of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The high court had upheld the order passed by a trial court convicting a man found in possession of 1 kg heroin, for the offence punishable under the provision of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and sentenced him to jail for 15 years along with a fine of Rs 2 lakh.

In its verdict, the top court said that while awarding sentence in case of NDPS Act, the interest of the society as a whole is also required to be taken in consideration.

While considering the submission on behalf of the accused on mitigating and aggravating circumstances...it should be borne in mind that in a murder case, the accused commits murder of one or two persons, while those persons who are dealing in narcotic drugs are instruments in causing death or in inflicting death blow to number of innocent young victims who are vulnerable; it cause deleterious effects and deadly impact on the society; they are hazard to the society, the bench said.