The Supreme Courtroom at the moment issued discover to the Union and all States on a PIL searching for instructions to sort out drug menace within the nation, together with a declaration that sentences in NDPS instances shall run consecutively.
A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana handed the order within the public curiosity litigation initiated by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. The case was directed to be listed alongwith a suo motu case taken up by the Court (2022) on related points.
In the course of the listening to, Advocate Upadhyay contended that incidents of drug addicts inflicting hurt to their households get continuously reported in newspapers. The CJI responded that the issue is certainly very critical and impacts the whole nation. Nevertheless, the choose added that for tackling the rising menace of medication, coordinate efforts are required on the a part of professional companies and the regulation and order equipment.
At this level, Upadhyay gave the instance of Singapore, stating that the nation is completely drug-free. Justice Bagchi, in response, famous that Singapore is a small nation with excessive per-capita earnings, whereas India has a border with international locations like Afghanistan and Myanmar. The choose mentioned that these components are related in controlling such points.
In the end, the bench issued discover and tagged the petition with the pending suo motu case.
Briefly put, the PIL seeks instructions to the Centre and States to: (i) prescribe a compulsory timeline for submission of FSL reviews in NDPS instances, (ii) formulate an SOP for search, seizure and sampling in small and intermediate amount instances, (iii) represent and Professional Committee for identification and well timed scheduling of New Psychotropic substances, and (iv) represent Particular Courts underneath Sections 36 and 36A and body SOP for timebound investigation and speedy trial.
It additional seeks institution of rehabilitation centres and different programmes underneath Sections 39 and 64A of the Act. Instructions have additionally been searched for necessary digital recording and videography of search, seizure and sampling of stock proceedings.
The petitioner additional prays for framing of a graded sentencing coverage, underneath which punishment is proportionate for traffickers and financiers on one hand and addicts and private use offenders on the opposite.
The petition cites reviews of assorted incidents associated to drug dependancy. It factors out that just about 2 lakh individuals die unnatural deaths and 20000 undergo from critical bodily and psychological illnesses yearly on account of narcotics abuse.
It highlights the problem of drug smuggling as nicely, together with by the use of drones, underlining that there was a surge of 53 p.c in medicine instances in 2025. Out of the overall seizures, apparently 51% was accounted for by hashish and 29% by opiates.
The petitioner additional mentions that there isn’t a everlasting mechanism as of now to determine in a well timed method new psychotropic substances, which permits speedy proliferation of latest psychotropic substances, like artificial opioids, that are stronger than standard narcotics.
He additionally highlights the bodily, psychological, social and public order influence of medication use within the nation. Amongst a few of the considerations flagged are, dependence syndrome, melancholy, home violence, spousal murder, smuggling, crime, organized trafficking and drug-related highway incidents.
Notably, in Might, the CJI bench pulled up Punjab State authorities over their failure to sort out drug abuse and trafficking within the state. The CJI specifically commented that the State police makes arrest of small-level peddlers for publicity, however fails to behave towards these operating the rackets, together with some influential individuals.
Case : ASHWINI KUMAR UPADHYAY v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. W.P.(Crl.) No. 288/2026
