A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the State government to establish campus police units in all educational institutions to prevent drug abuses on campuses.
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The Bench comprising Chief Justice S. Mannikumar and Justice A.M. Shaffique directed the State government to convene a meeting of all key officials of Home, Excise, Health, Law, Education and Social Justice departments and representatives of the State Mental Health Authority to chalk out programmes to reduce the incident of substance abuse among teenagers and youth.
The court issued the directive while disposing of a suo motu case initiated on the basis of a letter from a former IPS officer N. Ramachandran highlighting the rampant drug abuse on campuses of colleges and schools. The letter expressed concern over the increasing rate of crimes committed by the youth under the influence of drugs and the alarming use of drugs among children/students of both genders.
The court ordered the formation of the campus police unit as it found that the law enforcement agencies were not conducting regular checks inside educational institutions. The court ordered the government to take measures to make it easier for the police and excise to enforce the NDPS Act, 1985, in educational institutions.
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The court directed that authorities of universities, colleges and schools shall be provided with guidelines as a charter of duties and responsibilities to make campuses drug free.
The order also directed the State Police Chief (SPC) to seek the services of the Student Police Cadets, NCC, NSS and other similar organisations to create awareness about the legal repercussions of the usage and trafficking of drugs, and the health and career hazards it could cause.
The SPC was also directed to introduce a special scheme to ensure that the premises of educational institutions and universities were drug free and to initiate steps to conduct anti-drug programmes in the institutions, propagate health awareness campaigns, and use the assistance of social media platforms.
The court directed the SPC to establish counselling and rehabilitation mechanisms to save the students who were addicted to drugs.