Set in motion the process for establishment of NDPS courts: Chief Secretary

JAMMU: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo on monday the 8th UT level Apex committee meeting of NCORD impressed upon the administration to put the ball rolling for establishment of NDPS courts for speedy trial of the convicts under this act.

The meeting which was attended by ACS, Home; Spl DG, Crime; Principal Secretary, PWD; Principal Secretary, School Education; ADGP, Jammu; Commissioner Secretary, GAD; Commissioner Secretary, Social Welfare; Divisional Commissioner Kashmir/Jammu; IGP, Kashmir; Deputy Commissioners and representatives from NCB, SIA, Prosecution besides other concerned senior officers from civil and police administration.

In the onset the Chief Secretary enquired about the number of detentions made in the UT during the previous year and the proportion of successful convictions made in the court of law. He asked them to work towards enhancing the capacity of the concerned police personnel so that the cases are prepared professionally with higher conviction rate.

Dulloo maintained that since the relevant laws are in place bolstered by police force in satisfactory numbers, it becomes imminent to deal with the drug menace very forcefully to weed it out from the UT. He stressed on using their resources optimally to gather information and laying of hands over the big suppliers who are pivotal in supporting this illicit trade here.

He also asked putting in place extra deterrent measures and giving exemplary punishments to those found guilty of running drug trade here. He asked for gathering the audio-visual data from the CCTV footage of all drug stores and analysing it to find threads about possible operators using the modern Artificial intelligence tools. He asked the DCs to report about the status of properties sealed under PIT NDPS Act.

The Chief Secretary also directed the health department to utilize the services of the best of their psychiatrists to study the models adopted in providing care to the victims of this menace in different drug deaddiction centers across J&K. He also asked them to lay a robust protocol as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) at national level. He told them to make an effective strategy to assign the responsibility of deaddiction centers to psychiatrists only as these can treat the addicts as per their requirements.

He enquired from Deputy Commissioners about the scenario of drug trade in their areas and the response of administration against it. He asked from them about the achievements made in this regard and the issues, if any, faced by them. He asked them to work for total eradication of this trade in their respective jurisdictions.

The Chief Secretary even asked the Information, School Education and Social Welfare Departments to create the necessary awareness among the masses besides ensuring community participation to fight this narcotic trade effectively.

During this meeting the ACS Home, RK Goyal made out that since the capacity of concerned police personnel has been enhanced and the necessary testing facilities for samples has also been provided to them it should invariably result in enhanced convictions and speedy trails. He asked them to refine their efficacy and intent to turn most of the detentions into their convictions in the court of law.

It was given out in his presentation given by Special DG, Crime, AK Choudhary that this year the number of detentions and convictions has taken a quantum leap by laying more focus on NDPS cases.

He also shared that effective deterrents are being put in place including referring of cases to SIA and sealing of properties of the people involved in this nefarious trade.