The Kerala High
Court has said that while the society should be protected from drug-related
crimes, the manner of investigating and prosecuting such offences must remain
fair.
The observations
were made by the single-judge Bench of Justice N Nagaresh.
Setting aside a
man’s (appellant) sentence and conviction under Section 22(c) (punishment for
possessing a commercial quantity of drugs) of the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act), the High Court said there was a
need to protect society from criminals pedaling in narcotic drugs.
The societal
interest and safety would suffer if persons committing crimes were let off
because the evidence against them was to be treated as if it did not exist, it
pointed out.
The High Court,
however, noted that the manner in which drug traffickers were proceeded against
must remain above board.
It said the remedy
could not be worse than the disease itself.
The legitimacy of
judicial process may come under cloud if the court was seen to condone acts of
lawlessness conducted by the investigating agency during search operations, it added.