DURING the first nine months of 2017 — more than 60 percent of the accused got acquitted in drug-related cases. According to police data, different courts delivered judgments in 11,862 drug cases between January and September, acquitting 9,231 of the 15,212 accused. Around 55 percent suspects were acquitted in 2015 and 56 percent last year. However, Narcotics control officials blame the poor conviction rate mainly on the faulty chargesheets and a lack of witnesses.
It’s difficult to believe the government’s concerned agencies can neither deter the indiscriminate use of illegal narcotics nor can’t they reduce the illegal trade simply because of ‘poor conviction rate’ and ‘faulty charges’. The truth is the alarming rate of drug usage among youngsters in the country has become an evident and an immediate threat to national wellbeing. With the higher number of acquittals the drug dealers are now becoming bolder.
We are dreadfully in a clear danger of losing an entire generation to such harmful mood altering chemicals such as drugs, particularly following consumption of Yaba — reportedly being consumed over 8 lakh tablets per day. Last year alone, the authorities seized over 2.94 crore Yaba tablets compared to only 13.6 lakh in 2011. We also know that most of it is coming in from Myanmar; so on one border, we have Phensedyl coming in from India, and on the other, we have to contend with the influx of Yaba from Myanmar. Thus, we should immediately take the matter up with our neighbours for cooperative measures to stop the flow of narcotics into the country.
Nevertheless, the most crucial matter is how effectively we tackle the menace at home. If record numbers of offenders get acquitted every year, we cannot deter the trade and the increasing rate of drug abuse in the country. That said — the government must pay special attention to shorten legal procedures of drug related cases. The actual reasons behind faulty charges and poor conviction rates must be thoroughly investigated.
Lastly, the Narcotics department, police and the legal system must jointly work so to hand out exemplary punishments to drug dealers and destroy the powerful nest sheltering them all over the country. By now, far too many offenders have got away with their crimes through the legal loopholes while causing far too much damage to our society. It must stop forthwith.
