A Sessions court here has suggested that drug-traffickers need to be sensitised about the “pain and agonies” suffered by drug addicts and their families by facilitating their periodic visits during imprisonment to hospitals and drug de-addiction centres.
Additional Sessions Judge Narinder Kumar made the suggestion while sentencing a drug trafficker, who was caught while in possession of over two kg of charas in 2010, to ten years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1 lakh under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
“Although the convict has been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment as provided by the NDPS Act, this court finds that such convicted drug traffickers also need to be sensitised about the ill-effects or narcotic drugs in which they deal so as to give a jolt to their conscience, by making them feel and realise how many persons suffer at their hands because of consumption or intake of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, which they supply,” Mr. Kumar said.
“Convicts in such cases, while they undergo sentence in jail, can also be taken to hospitals, drug de-addiction centres periodically or at the jail itself they can be shown visuals of such instances so that they can themselves see the pain and agony of the victims of drug menace as the visuals would leave an indelible impression on their minds.”
The court added that though the NDPS Act did not have provision for such visits, it is for the government and all the concerned authorities, including prison authorities, to “ponder over as to the manner in which such drug traffickers can be sensitised to the pain and agonies of a drug addict so that when such convicts become free from jail, they do not opt for such nefarious trade”.
