The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday directed the state government to make a policy for saving lives of drug addicts by identifying them with the help of gram panchayats before their free treatment at de-addiction centres.
The Bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Palli asked the state to consider representations submitted by petitioner Hari Chand Arora.
Among other things, he had suggested to the Punjab Chief Minister that the government should involve gram panchayats in identification of drug addicts in their area and persuade their parents to get them admitted to de-addiction centres for proper treatment.
The notice on the PIL was accepted by the Punjab Government law officer before the directions were issued.
The Bench appreciated Arora by observing that the “petitioner, a Bar member, has raised an important social issue in his PIL”.
The Bench also impressed upon the state law officer that sarpanches and panches of the gram panchayats were in a better position to identify the drug addicts than government servants or police.
The Bench also directed the state government to take an expeditious decision on making a policy, in consultation with the petitioner, to save the lives of addicts.
The petitioner, in his PIL, enumerated the cases of 20 drug addicts, who died recently due to self-administration of injectable adulterated drugs, which was evidenced by the fact that syringes were lying near the bodies of some victims. He added that one or two drug addicts die every day.
He also referred to the fact that people of Punjab had recently, on the clarion call by a group of activists, observed a week-long protest against the increasing drug menace in the state.
He added that the drug addicts were killing themselves out of frustration by injecting themselves with killer drugs following increased pressure on drug peddlers and breaking down of supply lines.
