Can’t apply innocent until proven guilty, says NCB, Aryan Khan stays in jail

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh, the senior most law officer of the Union government in Maharashtra, appearing for the NCB, argued that there was need to take a “serious view” of drug abuse among youngsters, and that the principle of innocent until proven guilty does not apply under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

“The present applicant (Aryan) is not a consumer for the first time. The evidence placed before the court shows that he is a regular consumer of contraband for the last few years.

The contraband found in the possession of co-accused (6 gm of charas found from Merchant) was for consumption by both. Therefore, the contention that nothing was found with the applicant may not be correct,” Singh said.

Aryan Khan outside a city court on Monday.

The NCB claimed to have seized the charas during a search of Aryan and Merchant when they were to board a cruise on October 2.

The NCB’s panchnama says that nothing was found on Aryan, but 6 gm of charas was found in Merchant’s shoe. The NCB is relying on the panchnama, voluntary statements of Aryan, which he has retracted, and WhatsApp chats allegedly recovered from his phone.

Aryan has been lodged at Arthur Road jail since October 8 after the magistrate’s court sent him to judicial custody. An official said Thursday that he has now been shifted to the general barracks from the quarantine ward, along with the other accused, after they all tested negative for Covid.

ASG Singh said “innocent until proven guilty” is not the case under the NDPS Act as there is a presumption that the investigating agency’s case has to be considered prima facie correct. “It is at the trial stage where the accused has to prove that he was not in possession of the illicit article,” Singh said.

He claimed that while there was a Supreme Court judgment on non-admissibility of voluntary statements as evidence, that would be a “matter of trial”.

Aryan Khan was arrested along with seven others following a drug bust on a cruise liner.

Referring to India as a land of Mahatma Gandhi, Gautam Buddha and Mahavir, and citing “freedom fighters”, the ASG said youth were the future of the country and drug abuse among them must be taken seriously. “The argument advanced (by defence lawyers) was that these are young boys, they are kids and that may be one of the considerations for grant of bail. I do not agree with this. You are our future generation… This is not what our freedom fighters had in mind. We are looking into the chain of transactions, and the investigation is at a preliminary stage. It (bail) may be considered at a later stage,” Singh said.

Countering this, senior lawyer Amit Desai representing Aryan said that the government’s own National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances says there are several layers to the drug menace, and the need for sensitivity towards school and college students. “There is no doubt (regarding) the importance of the law on drugs. Kudos to the NCB… for what they are doing… Equally important is that we must remember that our freedom fighters fought for the Constitution and fundamental rights…Here is a person (at) the bottom of the chain, a consumer, a person affected by the drug menace as per the government’s own national policy. Instead of trying to reform him, he is being kept in jail,” Desai said.

On a chat the NCB has alleged was between Aryan and a foreign national on “bulk quantity of hard drugs”, Desai said youngsters today had a language of their own. “The chats they are claiming, it is possible (these) may look suspicious. But is it youthful banter, is it a joke, the context is important. When we deal with evidentiary value, context is important. The court needs to bear in mind that by no stretch of imagination is this boy (Aryan) involved in international drug trafficking,” Desai said.

ASG Singh, however, said that the chat was clear and anyone reading it can understand what it meant.

Desai said the NCB had submitted no material on how granting bail to Aryan would hamper its investigation, including any communication or chats on alleged drug use at the cruise party that was raided. He said the NCB had completed its investigation related to Aryan and the leads which came through his interrogation.

After hearing the arguments, Special Judge V V Patil reserved its order.

Arthur Road Central Jail Superintendent Nitin Vayachal said the accused are now housed in the general barracks. A senior officer said, “We keep a new undertrial or accused in quarantine for eight days and after this ended, all the accused were shifted to different barracks.”