On Friday (February 10), the Supreme Court of India granted bail to one Sabir, who was accused of illegally cultivating 8 kg of opium in Madhya Pradesh.
The matter was heard by a Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud. While granting the accused bail, the apex court remarked, “What are you doing about real offenders who are running international syndicates? “
“Try and catch them and then save the people…You are catching small-time peddlers, farmers, etc but the not real culprit,” it further remarked. Sabir was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
#cjichandrachud : Stop running behind these small peddlers, do something about those who are running these international rackets..#SupremeCourt #drugs
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) February 10, 2023
His bail application was opposed by the Additional Solicitor General (ASG), Vikramjit Banerjee, who pointed out that Sabir had previously been convicted twice.
The Supreme Court noted that Sabir had served 5 years in jail for an offence that carried a maximum punishment of 10 years and was thus ‘entitled’ to bail. The apex court rejected the argument of ASG and claimed that opium was not found in a car/ truck but in the agricultural land of the accused.
The Background of the Case
The case (titled Sabir Vs State of Madhya Pradesh) dates back to March 1996 when Sabir and his father Hamid were caught cultivating poppy opium in excess of the area, which was originally licenced to them.
“It was found that accused Sabir had planted poppy plants exceeding 10 array land for which he was licensed to produce the opium poppy. The raiding party also found that the crop of opium poppy has been attributed from the exceed area and kept concealed in the Nala near his field,” the prosecution had revealed.
“During the inspection, the search team come to know that after lancing, the opium collected by the accused persons from the illegally cultivated poppy have been kept in their house and neither this excess area nor the opium collected out by this excess area has been entered into the records of the Village Lumberdar,” it added.
