The Delhi High Court observed that the menace of drug abuse was on the rise in the country and its consequences “can be experienced across the board from causing economic issues to societal disintegration”.
Justice Subramonium Prasad made the remarks while declining the bail plea of a Nepali national who was caught with 475 gm of charas near the gate of the Kailash Colony metro station here.
“The harmful effects of drugs on an individual and on the society have been researched extensively and are well known...The purpose of enacting the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act was to curb this menace,” Justice Prasad said.
The High Court also noted that the accused, Madan Lama, being a citizen of Nepal, has no roots in society and can be considered a potential flight-risk. “Thus, he satisfies the factor that there exists the danger of him absconding or fleeing from justice, if released on bail,” the court said, adding, “Furthermore, if the petitioner [Mr Lama] is released on bail, it cannot be ruled out that he will not indulge in such activities again.”.
Secret tip-off
On December 18, 2020, secretly provided information was received by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) that one Nepali national of small built wearing yellow-coloured clothes would be near Gate no.1 of the city’s Kailash Colony metro station, between 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and that he might be carrying narcotic drugs for the purpose of delivery to his client.
An NCB team was formed to intercept the person. When the team was waiting near the said location, they observed that one person wearing a yellow sweatshirt matching the description in the tip-off was carrying a black shoulder bag. He met with another person wearing a black jacket. The person who was wearing the yellow sweatshirt handed over a small packet to the person who wearing the black jacket, who gave an amount of cash to the person in the yellow sweatshirt in return.
At that point, both were apprehended by the NCB team.
The NCB team found charas in 46 small zip-lock polythene packets, along with ₹12,000, in Mr. Lama’s bag. One packet was found in the possession of his client.
Mr. Lama accepted that he had been carrying charas in his bag and he sold the drug to his clients. In all, 47 packets with 475 gm charas were recovered from Mr. Lama.
The High Court, while declining Mr. Lama’s bail plea, noted that he and the client, from whom “only 10 gm of contraband was recovered” stood on entirely different footing, as the latter had only a small quantity of drugs.
The court also remarked that “the chances of Mr. Lama jumping bail cannot be ruled out as he is not the resident of India”.