A Study On Procedural Safeguards And Judicial Acquittals Under NDPS Act, 1985
- IJLLR Journal
- 5 days ago
- 1 min read
Vijayaraghavan K, LLM, School of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Administration, Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, School of Excellence, Taramani, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
ABSTRACT
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, serves as India's primary legislative framework against drug trafficking. To balance its stringent punitive provisions, severe minimum sentences, and statutory reverse burden of proof, the legislature embedded mandatory procedural safeguards within the Act. This study analyzes the critical intersection between law enforcement compliance and judicial outcomes, evaluating how procedural lapses systematically lead to trial failures and judicial acquittals. Through a doctrinal analysis of landmark and contemporary Supreme Court and High Court rulings, this paper examines the evolution of key statutory safeguards. The findings indicate that a significant majority of NDPS acquittals stem not from a lack of factual guilt, but from mechanical errors, compromised chains of custody, and arbitrary deviations by investigating officers. The study concludes that while strict judicial enforcement protects the fundamental Right to Life under Article 21 against state overreach, it exposes a critical capability gap in law enforcement. Finally, the paper proposes institutional reforms, including standardized digital compliance logging and mandatory specialized procedural training for officers, to bridge this systemic gap.
Keywords: NDPS Act, Procedural Safeguards, Section 42, Section 50, Section 52A, Section 55, Section 57, Judicial Acquittals.
