Chrisann Pereira Sharjah drug plant case: Anthony Paul, 2 others not to face stringent section 24 of anti-drug law

One of the sections they were charged under was section 24 which has provisions for punishment when an accused engages in or controls any trade whereby a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance is obtained outside India and supplied to any person outside India.

“On going through provisions of section 24, the section would not be applicable as there is no allegation that the substance was obtained outside India and supplied to any person outside India,” special Judge A V Kharkar said in his order on Tuesday. It said that the special court under NDPS Act can hear cases where the punishment is beyond three years and hence the case is not exclusively triable before it. It said the case can therefore be transferred to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. The court said that contraband seized in the case is a small quantity of ganja for which the punishment is one year. The magistrate court will decide on the other charges under the IPC as well as other charges under the NDPS Act, the accused face, based on which the trial will proceed.

Last month, the court had denied bail to Paul stating that it has to consider the traumatic 27 days spent by Pereira in a Sharjah prison due to his alleged acts. The police also claim that there were four other victims including a DJ, Clayton Rodrigues, who has been sentenced to 25 years in jail in Sharjah after being found in possession of a drug-laced cake.