Drug Abuse And Trafficking Menace To Society, Says Court

New Delhi: Drug abuse and trafficking is a menace to society, a Delhi court has said while awarding 10 years' imprisonment to a woman for being in possession of commercial quantity of contraband psychotropic substances.

Additional Sessions Judge Rajiv Mehra also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on convict Shahnaz, a resident of Badarpur in New Delhi, for carrying commercial quantity of 300gm of contraband that is identified as psychotropic substance under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act and rules.

As per the Gazette notification, more than 100gm of the psychotropic substance, which affects the mental state of a person, comes under the category of commercial quantity.

"Taking into account the overall facts and position and also considering the fact that drug abuse and trafficking is a menace to society and considering its overall repercussion, this court is of the considered view that a sentence of rigorous imprisonment of ten years and also a fine of Rs 1 lakh shall be appropriate punishment to meet the ends of justice," the judge said.

The court noted that the accused was neither a medical practitioner nor a scientist and provisions of the NDPS Act were attracted against her.

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According to the prosecution, the Crime Branch of Delhi Police had got a tip-off that a woman would be coming near Rajghat here carrying huge quantity of contraband drugs on October 15, 2014.

The police team reached the spot and Shahnaz was caught with a bag. A search was conducted and she was arrested.

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During the trial, the woman denied recovery of drugs from her possession and claimed she was falsely implicated in the case.