Hyderabad: Using an educational institution or minors for commission of an offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, will entail more severe punishment.
The NDPS Act, which is a special law, gives trial court judges discretionary powers to impose higher than the minimum punishments by taking into account certain special and peculiar circumstances of the case.
According to legal experts, the NDPS Act empowers judges to release a drug addict without punishment even if he or she is found guilty, keeping in view the age, character, and antecedents or physical or mental condition of the offender.
A. Santosh Kumar, who practices in the High Court, said that the trial court, instead of sentencing the offender, can order his/her release to undergo medical treatment for de-toxification or de-addiction at a hospital or an institution maintained or recognised by the government, with or without sureties.
However, the trial court can punish offenders who have committed the offe-nce in an educational ins-titution or social service facility or in the immediate vicinity of such institution, or in other places to which school children and students resort for educational, sports and social activities, with severe punishments.
Though the punishment prescribed in such cases is 10 years of imprisonment and Rs 1-lakh fine, the trial judge has the power to award a maximum of 20 years imprisonment and also double the penalty. This enhanced punishment can also apply in cases where the use or threat of use of violence or arms was used, or where the offender holds a public office and has taken advantage of that office, or the offender belongs to an organised international or any other criminal group involved in the commission of the offences
Pappu Nageswara Raos, a criminal lawyer, explained that there is no scope under the NDPS Act for suspension, remission or commutation of a sentence awarded in a drug cases.
He said that though there is provision for death penalty under the Act for repeated offenders (not consumers but peddlers), so far the death penalty has not been awarded to anyone in the country for this offence since the commencement of this law in 1995.
