Agartala: Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha on Saturday commented on the low conviction rate, particularly in cases registered under NDPS Act, and sought the judiciary’s cooperation to get rid of the drug menace in the state.
Addressing a daylong seminar at Tripura Judicial Academy on Cross-Border Organized Crime and Risk Assessment, Dr Saha identified illicit drug trafficking as the biggest cross-border criminal activity now existing in Tripura.
“Drug abuse is the biggest challenge that our state is facing now. We have international borders on three sides. International drug lords use our porous borders as a safe corridor for transporting drugs”, said Dr Saha adding that the introduction of synthetic drugs has added a new dimension to the narcotic threat.
“The safety security of the whole region is under threat as drugs are a tool for making money for terrorist groups and anti-national forces active in the region,” said Dr Saha.
He also appealed to the Youth not to see drugs as a fancy style statement given its health implications.
While speaking about the comparatively lower conviction rate in local courts related to NDPS charges, Dr Saha said, “In recent times, as many as 428 Special NDPS cases had been disposed of by different courts of Tripura, but only 38 petitions culminated in conviction. The rate of conviction is visibly not up to the desired level.
To make our state drug-free, all the stakeholders must take collective responsibility,” said Dr Saha.
Laying emphasis on the police investigation, he said, “Strict view on considering bail application needs to be taken. The police officials should also carefully go through the technicalities of the investigation.
Our government has clearly stated that anyone involved in drug trafficking shall not be spared considering his colour, creed, social status, political affiliation and connection. Much needs to be done. The government alone can’t do this.”
The Chief Minister also provided a nutshell of data describing the state police’s crackdown on drug trafficking.
“Between 2022 and June 2023, as many as 1,509 FIRs have been registered. A total of 1,143 charge sheets are submitted before the Court followed by the arrest of 2,132 people. The Narcotics Control Bureau has appreciated our efforts in the seizure of Drugs and ranked Tripura as one of the top-performing states,” he added.
In his own words, 1,622 quintals of cannabis, over 8 lakh bottles of banned cough syrup, 23.78 lakh Yaba tablets and 27.613 thousand kgs of Heroin have been seized in between the period.
Apart from that, the increasing reports of Rohingya influx also prompted the state government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
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“We have received increasing reports of the Rohingya influx from Bangladesh, and thus, a special investigation team has been constituted to investigate links of human traffickers with the other Indian states. So far as we understand, human trafficking is not a big threat to Tripura, and reports of such crimes are rare,” the Chief Minister told the gathering.
Among the others, Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sanjoy Karol from the Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice Tripura High Court AK Singh and Judges from different parts of the state and North East India participated in the seminar.
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