Drug menace in Malaysian Township, Hyderabad

Police caught red handed two young girls and three boys while they were having ganja at Malaysia Township under the limits of KPHB Police Station, here on July 21, 2017 at 4pm. On a tiff off, the KPHB police raided a flat in the Malaysia Township and detained Ektha Negi, a software employee, along with Gopi Sadhana, a fashion designer. The police also detained Muvva Nithin, Devaraju Uday, Marupalli Abhilash on the information given by the young girls in the same Township. Police seized 60 gram ganja from them. The police said the detainee told them that they purchased ganja from an unidentified person at Tolichowki.

Here are some facts:

• I live in the flat just above the flat that was raided by police and girls were caught with Ganja on July 21, 2017. 
• The flat is rented by three unmarried techie girls since over 2.5 years ago. Some girl vacating the flat and some other girl joining the flat was inconspicuous. Among present occupants two are north Indian and third one local. I never heard of any nuisance created by them. Some boys visiting their flat regularly was common but any kind of nuisance by them was never discussed.
• I have never felt the smell of their Ganja smoking. However the gentleman in front of their flat tells that he & his wife felt unusual smell few times when they cross crossed each other in corridor ans their door was open.
• The Residents Association has never warned the landlord or the tenants about their alleged illegal activity of Ganja smoking. Prior to approaching police they should have demanded vacating the flat by the occupants suspected of Ganja smoking, which was not done in this case. The tenants were not given any kind of benefit of doubt nor any eyewitness to illegal activity thus giving rise to doubts of framing them by Association for reasons best known to them.
• While there are over 10 other flats with suspected ganja smoking activity in the township, why this flat occupied 3 girl techies was targeted for police raid is not known.
• Publicizing their names and photos and parading them in front of media like criminals, even before crime is established and against their will, not only destroys their reputation but also they could lose their jobs and their marriage proposals will get destroyed.

My View:
Drugs unheard in Hyderabad five years ago, is omnipresent today. Even though laws world wide are stringent, drug menace is ever increasing and threatening youth in particular. Such is its power and temptation of disproportionate profits. In India, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985( NDPS Act) prohibits a person to produce, manufacture, cultivate, possess, sell, purchase, transport, store, and/or consume any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance. Drug peddlers have liability of 10-20 years of RI, drug consumers a liability of RI up to 1 year. Addicts volunteering for treatment enjoy immunity from prosecution. In this case, even before asserting whether the girls are peddlers or consumers and their willingness for deaddiction, police parading them in front of media, destroying their image, jobs, marriage prospects is unfair.