Hooked! Left To Hang, High & Dry

Even common sense doesn’t agree that Aryan Khan must be part of an international drug syndicate.

Investigative Agencies, especially central agencies like the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), National Investigative Agency (NIA), Enforcement Directorate (ED), have been formed to look at larger criminal cases, networks, syndicates which operate within the country and outside of it.

The legislature and the judiciary have empowered these agencies with several laws and acts which are stringent and often referred to as draconian. These laws, like; the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Syndicate (MCOCA), have one specific purpose (among others) they give sweeping powers to investigative agencies. This has been done to ensure that major crimes that plague our country are tackled and eradicated by these agencies. They also have pan-India access and jurisdiction to conduct their investigations.

There is no doubt that narcotics, drugs, and other banned substances are a danger to our society, especially the youth. As a society it is our responsibility to ensure that our youngsters are protected from this menace and drug peddlers are given stringent punishment so that it acts as a deterrent. For this very purpose, the NDPS Act was enacted in 1985 and agencies were armed with this master weapon to eradicate the drug menace. It is more than 35 years that the law is in existence, and it is open for debate as to how successful this law and our agencies have been to control the drug menace in India.

Since 2017-2018, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has made two categories of cases under the NDPS, one is – cases registered under possession of drugs for personal use/consumption and the other is – cases registered under possession of drugs for trafficking. This categorization has thrown up an interesting statistic- in 2017-18, Maharashtra has had the highest number of cases registered under ‘personal use/consumption’, the figure is as high as 96% cases. The trend is similar in states like Kerala, Bihar, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab. While Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir have more cases of trafficking.

In 2019, more than 72,000 cases were registered under NDPS across the country. And the number reduced drastically in 2020 to 59,000 cases, quite clearly due to the pandemic situation and lockdown the number of cases registered under ‘person use/consumption’ went down. 

What these statistics reveal is that the act in its current form is not helping in curbing the drug menace. Either to show how much they are working or purely for statistical reasons, the number of cases of ‘personal use / consumption’ are increasing every year. However, if one deep dives into the statistics it reveals that the majority of these cases are against youngsters who are caught with very small quantities of these banned substances and are first time offenders.

It is high time we treat these youngsters who are caught with very small quantities as ‘victims’ and not as criminals. Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan’s case has caught the nation’s attention ever since he was arrested by the NCB on the night of October 2, 2021, on a cruise where a huge party was being organized.

As per NCB’s own statement to the court, Aryan Khan was not in possession of any banned substance, but the agency suspects that he is part of an international syndicate which deals in drugs. Now, by any degree of imagination, it is very difficult to digest the fact that the 23-year-old son of Shahrukh Khan would be part of an international drug syndicate. So, the question that pops up is, if Aryan Khan did not have any drugs in his possession why was he arrested? There is a provision in the NDPS Act which gives power to the agency to place a person under arrest on suspicion that the person may be connected to a syndicate. 

The act gives such sweeping powers to the agency that it is vulnerable to being misinterpreted, misused or applied to everyone as a blanket rule. If a person is not found in possession of any banned substance or is not peddling them, it is a violation of his fundamental rights if the person is placed under arrest merely on suspicion. The law needs to take a more humane approach to this aspect.

Another shocking thing that happened was, as per media reports and claims by Aryan Khan’s lawyer, the NCB did not conduct Khan’s blood or urine test. This is a basic requirement under the law. As per media reports, the NCB gave a justification that a blood and urine test was not required because the party had not started, and the raid was conducted before that. This, if true, is an absurd claim, because no matter what the situation, blood and urine tests are the basic requirement to be done once a person is placed under arrest, especially in a drug case.

In 2012, when the Juhu rave party had been raided and busted by the police, more than 100 people, including celebrities were detained. The police immediately conducted their blood and urine test, when the results came based on those the arrests were made. Interestingly, it was those very reports that helped the prosecution secure convictions in the case when the case came up for trial. If the NCB has not conducted the blood and urine test of Aryan Khan, it is indeed baffling.

The sections of NDPS Act that have been slapped on Aryan Khan carry a prison term of minimum 10 years and can be extended to 20 years, if convicted. Another section (35 of NDPS Act) which has been applied, assumes that the person knew what he/she was doing, hence the law presumes the person to be guilty until and unless proven innocent. This is exactly opposite to what our constitution guarantees that ‘a person is presumed innocent, until proven guilty.’ It means the onus is on the arrested person to prove his/her innocence.

Looking at this trend of escalating number of cases under NDPS for personal use/consumption, even the social justice ministry has suggested that youngsters should be considered and treated as victims. The time has come to review the law and amend it to ensure that people are educated, made aware of the menace. Those who are caught should get a chance to rehabilitate themselves and not be hooked in a case once and left to hang, high and dry forever.

(Writer of this article is the Director General of Police (retd), Maharashtra, former Commissioner of Police, Mumbai & ex-chief of the elite Mumbai Crime Branch. He has worked as Joint Director, CBI (West Zone) for three years and six years in the IB. He is also an award-winning author.)