Chandigarh, October 12 (Press Ki Taquat)
The Punjab Director General of Police and the Home Secretary on Thursday appeared before a high court bench which had summoned them after expressing displeasure over the non-appearance of prosecution witnesses in drug cases leading to delay in trials.
Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul asked DGP Gaurav Yadav to file an affidavit, providing details of appearance of prosecution witnesses in drug cases where charge sheets have been filed in the last two years, said BS Aulakh, the counsel for the petitioner.
The court also asked the DGP to give reasons if prosecution witnesses have not appeared, the counsel told reporters after hearing in the matter on Thursday.
DGP Yadav and Home Secretary Gurkirat Kirpal Singh appeared in the high court, the counsel said.
On Wednesday, Justice Kaul had summoned both the DGP and the Home Secretary for their personal appearance while hearing a petition filed by Arshdeep Singh of Muktsar district who has been in custody for the past three years in a drug case. The petitioner had filed a bail plea.
A case under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act was registered against the petitioner in September 2020 at Lambi in Muktsar district after 1,000 tablets of Clovidol-100 SR and Tramadol Hydrochloride-100 mg and 500 tablets of Etolam 0.5 and Etizolam 0.5 mg were recovered from his possession.
The counsel had earlier submitted that the petitioner had been in custody since September 1, 2020 and the charges were framed in August 2021.
But only one prosecution witness out of 20 has been examined till date, the counsel said.
The counsel has submitted that there is no likelihood that the trial would conclude any time soon and hence the petitioner could not be made to languish in custody for reasons attributable only to the prosecution.
The prosecution witnesses in the case are all official witnesses and had not been appearing during trial to get their evidence recorded, the counsel has argued.
The court in its Wednesday order had said, “This has more or less become a regular feature in the State of Punjab that prosecution witnesses, who are mostly official witnesses in cases registered under the NDPS Act, have not been appearing during trial to get their evidence recorded as a result of which the trials are naturally getting delayed.” “On a number of occasions in the past, this court has directed the presence of Senior Superintendents of Police of various districts, who repeatedly assured this court that in future trial would not be delayed due to non-appearance of the prosecution witnesses. However, this Court is pained to observe that these assurances have been in vain and possibly have been given only to appease this Court,” the court had said.
In the circumstances, this court will no longer be a mute spectator, more so in the light of the devastating affect which the menace of drugs is having on the society, especially the youth, in this part of the country, the court had said.
