This article will look into the legal aspects involved in the Aryan Khan’s Narcotics case filed recently, starting from what exactly has happened or, in other words, the facts, what the Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances act of 1985 says on matters relating to Aryan Khan’s issue and the current status of his case.

Background on Aryan Khan’s Arrest:

Having received a clue on the usage of narcotics in a ship called Cordelia, near the Goa Sea, the Narcotics Bureau officials of around 20 planned to catch people involved in these activities. As per the reports in the news, these 20 officials had a plan to board the ship and had also booked few tickets to board the ship as normal passengers. They did so, and while on the ship, they were waiting for those people to use the narcotics. Once they got to know that there are actually few who started using the narcotic drugs, they caught those people red-handed. It was reported that there were around eight people who were arrested, and one among those was identified to be the son of Shah Rukh Khan, a Bollywood actor. Later, the ship was taken to south Mumbai and then to the Narcotics Control Bureau office in Mumbai. Once arrested it was reported by the NCB that the drugs were brought to the ship through some people by hiding within their clothes. Also, a few of the drugs that were seized from the ship are cocaine, mephedrone, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, which is otherwise called Ecstacy.

This was the reported fact so far in the news reports, and from here; we shall slightly deviate from this case to look into the provisions of Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances act, 1985 to know the necessities in this case and will compare the acts committed in this case to those provisions of the act.

What does NDPS Act say?

We are not looking into the entire act, instead of the provisions relevant to this Narcotics case. Why should we look at the NDPS Act of 1985 in this instance? The answer to this would be the objective of that act, which has been provided in its preamble. The objective of the act is to make stringent rules and laws relating to the prevention and control of the usage of narcotic drugs and other related drugs in India. It also prevents illegal transport through the help of the International Convention on Narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances. In general, it is clear that the act of 1985 does not completely prohibit the usage. It talks about the illegal transporting and usage of drugs. To be specific, section 9 of the Act empowers the central government to make rules and regulations pertaining to authorized usages within the territory, whereas section 10 allows the state government to come up with the rules and regulations relating to the same. Coming to the legal provisions involved in Aryan’s case, it is clear that there was a committal of an act by Aryan which has been prohibited strictly in India. Section 8 of the act states that no person shall cultivate any drug such as opium or cannabis or shall sell, manufacture, possess, export, import into India without authorization, or use or consume, etc. So, as per section 8(c), Aryan has committed the act of using, consuming the prohibited drugs under the act.

Secondly, it is clear that there was usage through dealings of such drugs in a ship, at Goa sea limits. Sections 12 of the actors speak about the restriction on external dealings in the case of narcotics drugs. It states that no person shall be allowed to engage in or control any kind of trade dealing with others on the prohibited drugs unless there is proper authorizations have been provided by the government of India.

Having known the offense committed under the act, let us look into the procedure that is provided under chapter 5 of the act. Section 51 states that the code of criminal procedure would be applicable as part of procedural law. As per procedure under section 42, Aryan has been arrested, and the officers shall have the power to search and seizure his places without a warrant. After the property or anything is received, then the police will take over the charge from there. If not, then the court shall direct as per the needs.