The police action in Samba District’s Bari Brahmana area wherein police has reportedly detained 20 vagrants wandering near a drug hotspot under preventive sections of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and later sent them to District Jail Kathua needs to be relooked with a different perspective.
Going by the police stance, the vagrants were found wandering under suspicious circumstances near infamous drug hotspot Balole Khad, which somehow shows that they were looking for availability of drugs in the area as customers and were not the conduits of any drug cartel or mafia. This angle needs to be taken into account while dealing with the cases related to the substance abusers as they have supposedly fallen prey to the tactics of drug suppliers and need to taken to de-addiction centres for rehabilitation rather than treating them as criminals and closing the doors of their return to normal life where they could differentiate once again, what is right and what is not.
No doubt, the police in Samba has claimed that the aforesaid action was aimed at curbing drug-related offences and rehabilitation of those involved in narcotics substance abuse but treating both in similar manner can prove detrimental for those who are in actual the victims of drug menace allegedly created by the enemies of the country sitting across the border as it is known fact that most of the illegal drug consignments reach J&K through drones or other conventional routes with smugglers taking advantage of porous boundary of the country.
There is no doubt in the fact that police and other enforcement agencies in J&K should take strictest possible action against those supporting drug deals and providing this ‘slow death entity’ to the younger population but while doing so, it becomes the solemn responsibility of the men in Khaki that no genuine case of drug addict faces undue harshness rather they should work out a provision where these drug addicts get maximum support to make a comeback and live a normal life once again.
In this regard, the J&K Government should take a cue from the government of the neighbouring state which is facing similar problems even before it struck the UT.
Reportedly, the Punjab Government has decided to provide rehabilitation and de-addiction for individuals caught with a non-commercial quantity of drugs, granting them immunity under Section 64(a) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
This approach seems to be advantageous for the society as no one would like to tag the youth of the region as a criminal when he or she is simply the victim of the worsening situation allowed to become a reality by entities which were supposed to contain the scourge of drugs but failed drastically in doing the same.
