Jun 16 2014 : The Times of India (Mumbai)
No more junkies, cry overcrowded jails
S Ahmed Ali
|
Mumbai
TNN
|
The police crackdown on drug addicts has led to severe overcrowding in the three jails in and around Mumbai. With the Arthur Road, Thane and Taloja jails now holding five times their capacity, inspector general (prisons) Meeran Borwankar recently wrote to Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria to stop sending drug addicts and peddlers to these prisons.Incidentally, the letter comes on the eve of the antidrugs week.
Sources said that the police chief is now in a dilemma over the campaign against drug peddlers and addicts.
Maria was unavailable for comment, but a senior officer said, “Many of these drug users and sellers come from very poor families and they don't have anyone to fight their cases. Most of them are sent to custody in jail and hence their numbers have increased.'' Sources said that the overcrowding is fairly recent as the Mumbai police have sent the maximum number of undertrials in the last four month.
After Maria took over as commissioner in February , he started a drive to clean up the city and directed all police stations and anti-narcotic cells to crack down hard on drugs. The police crackdown on the drugs trade came after citizens, particularly from Mahim, Colaba and the Sion-Matunga belt, complained about the menace of drug addicts.
“They create huge problems for local residents and indulge in stealing and defecating in the area,” said Irfan Macchi, a social worker from Mahim.
The police in the last four months registered 44,116 cases and arrested 5,657 persons—10 times more than what police had arrested last year. Last year, the police had registered 234 drug-related offences and arrested 936 persons. The anti-narcotics cell itself has arrested around 1,800, in
cluding 200 Nigerians under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in the last four months, said a police officer.In May, the police had deported 10 Nigerians and one
Tanzanian caught for drug peddling and who were staying illegally in India.The lack of space and infighting among gangsters at Arthur Road and Thane jails had compelled state government in 2004 to build Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai but as it is quite distant, it becomes a difficult task for police to regular ferry the undertrials to various courts.
Sources said that the police chief is now in a dilemma over the campaign against drug peddlers and addicts.
Maria was unavailable for comment, but a senior officer said, “Many of these drug users and sellers come from very poor families and they don't have anyone to fight their cases. Most of them are sent to custody in jail and hence their numbers have increased.'' Sources said that the overcrowding is fairly recent as the Mumbai police have sent the maximum number of undertrials in the last four month.
After Maria took over as commissioner in February , he started a drive to clean up the city and directed all police stations and anti-narcotic cells to crack down hard on drugs. The police crackdown on the drugs trade came after citizens, particularly from Mahim, Colaba and the Sion-Matunga belt, complained about the menace of drug addicts.
“They create huge problems for local residents and indulge in stealing and defecating in the area,” said Irfan Macchi, a social worker from Mahim.
The police in the last four months registered 44,116 cases and arrested 5,657 persons—10 times more than what police had arrested last year. Last year, the police had registered 234 drug-related offences and arrested 936 persons. The anti-narcotics cell itself has arrested around 1,800, in
cluding 200 Nigerians under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in the last four months, said a police officer.In May, the police had deported 10 Nigerians and one
Tanzanian caught for drug peddling and who were staying illegally in India.The lack of space and infighting among gangsters at Arthur Road and Thane jails had compelled state government in 2004 to build Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai but as it is quite distant, it becomes a difficult task for police to regular ferry the undertrials to various courts.
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