ORIGINAL INCIDENT
The entire Nation was stunned when Shahrukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan was arrested and kept in judicial custody for more than 3 weeks for consuming prohibited drugs. Mr Sameer Wankhede is a Dalit IRS officer hailing from a family of Muslims. He is a Law Enforcement Officer with an active service record of effecting more seizures and initiating prosecutions. When he was a Collector of Air customs in Mumbai, he was shot into prominence because he stopped and detained (for a short while), many influential members of Bollywood. Subsequent to the arrest of Mr Khan and a few more high-profile arrests, the Government of Maharashtra initiated proceedings for the revocation of the SC certificate issued to him. The matter was duly transferred to the National SC Commission for examination of wrongdoing or malpractice in Mr Sameer Wankhede becoming an IRS officer under the SC quota. He was exonerated. Apparently earlier, when his father was an Excise Inspector in the Government of Maharashtra. Mr Sameer Wankhede was lucky enough to get a bar license even when he was not yet a major. Hence, the general public was genuinely confused about Aryan Khan being an ultra-rich spoilt brat kid, who was shown the proper place by a no-nonsense, empowered law enforcer, hailing from an underprivileged section. Later, it turned out that the arrest of Aryan Khan was a poorly executed extortion effort by a not-so-clean revenue officer and his pliable team (one of them has been since dismissed). Mr Sameer Wankhede through an intermediate demanded a bribe of Rs. 25 Crores, which was later scaled down to Rs.18 Crores. There were further reports in The Hindu that a token advance bribe of Rs.50 lakhs was paid. For whatever reason, this Deal was not completed. In fact, the news report says that part of the advance paid was refunded, even though the general public has no clue how much was retained, who were the intermediate intermediaries for the bribe giver, and who executed the botched bribery attempt.
SUBSEQUENT HAPPENINGS!
Subsequently, Mr Sameer Wankhede was transferred to Chennai. Further investigation by NIB (Narcotics Investigation Bureau) concluded that though the people had been using Prohibited substances, the NIB, in its wisdom, decided not to lodge the Charge Sheet in a court of law and precipitate a trial. One cannot find fault with the decision of NIB. In the normal course, the matter would have been forgotten as the case of the rich kid’s ability to avoid a trial because of the detention and minuscule of illegality. But the matter did not end there. The CBI has recently filed an FIR against Sameer Wankhede, his associates Vishwa Vijay Singh as well as against Mr Kiran Gosavi and Mr Prabhakar Sail who were supposed to be the independent witnesses for the Mahazar that was drawn up pursuant to the FIR. It alleged that Mr Gosavi took part in the extortion on behalf of the officer. It is just a coincidence that these people (in the past also) were Mahazar witnesses in cases investigated by Mr Sameer Wankhede. The news report does not disclose who has paid the 50 Lakhs advance. The natural suspect is the business entity or the agent-in-chief who is known as the manager for the actor. Whoever has given the first instalment, he/she is also guilty of an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Actually, that would become a side story. The main story is whether there should be prosecution of Indian youth for consumption and possession of non-commercial quantities of “Soft drugs” even when they have no role in drug trafficking except being consumers. The price that Aryan khan paid should compel the government to protect similarly situated peer groups of Aryan Khan. Sorry, Mr Aryan, you suffered the misfortune. Like your accomplished parents. you may have loads of talent. Forget this episode. Do well in life. Be happy for yourself !!!
GLOBAL STORY
All over the world, there is a gradual relaxation of laws relating to drugs that are traditionally known as psychedelic substances. The Joe Biden government and the United States have given general amnesty to apprehended and accused/convicts who have faced marijuana possession changes. Many states in the United States and Canada have legalized it. These substances have been used since time immemorial. In fact, there are stories that even Lord Shiva occasionally partook weed. Pilgrims who go to Sabarimala, carry a minuscule quantity of the weed as an offering to Kochu kadutha Sami. In many parts of India Bhang, Grass, and Hash are used or consumed as part of the religious celebration as a nonessential ritual.
Actually, many countries with a colonial past have very strong laws against these substances such as Marijuana, Hash, and Opium. Britain fought to preserve its monopoly of the Opium trade in China from India. Chinese have a grudge against india for this. Chinese have forgotten that India also exported Buddhism and Bodhia sattvas to China. But for the Marxist-inspired Chinese government, even Lord Buddha becomes a peddler of religious belief. Marx described religion as the Opium of the Masses. South Korea has announced that if their students are found using marijuana in Canada where it is legal, Korea will still prosecute Canadian users in Korea if they are Korean nationals even though the Double Criminality requirement is not satisfied. Recently, Singapore executed a Malaysian national of Indian origin for having facilitated through cell phone, a transfer of less than 2-kilogram marijuana even though no recovery was made from that person.
Traditionally, Nordic and Scandinavian countries had been tolerant towards their population using marijuana and minor drugs like hash, marijuana oil, etc. Nevertheless, they were not willing to condone the cocaine, heroin smack trade, or designer drugs. In fact, these countries made a distinction between ‘Soft drugs and Hard drugs’. Soft drugs are those which were known to humanity for long and the agricultural/natural produce is often consumed in its natural form or with very minimal levels of chemical treatment. Hard drugs are those that involve micro-industrial processes which involve several stages such as cultivation, collection of produce, production facilities, and retail and transborder wholesale distribution channels. The more the level of industrial activity, the profit margins get bigger. This has enabled rogue nations and occasionally liberation movements to use the drug trade as an instrument of financing their cause. In fact, the Italian and Latin American drug mafias are under continuous scrutiny by US law enforcers. Occasionally they are extradited or captured and compelled to spend time in American Federal prisons. While there should not be any mercy or lenience shown to these organized cartels, we should not treat relatively young consumers and unwittingly give the impression that the juvenile soft drug user is treated as badly as the organized mafias. These mafias do not get into the picture unless the profit margin is obscene and the risks are manageable. In the case of soft drugs, (marijuana, tobacco products, bhang, and marijuana derivatives,) prior to excessive regulation by many Indian states, soft drugs had not been very expensive and people in this trade could not afford hippos, tigers, and lions as their pets. Unfortunately, the scrutiny of the Indian NIA is more on these small fish than the hard drug barons. A few years ago I read that an IPS officer in Punjab was caught red-handed while receiving commercial quantities of cocaine and heroin. But till now I have no information as to what happened to the prosecution. I must also add that being in South India, we don't face the problem of hard drugs as our Indian border states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and other northeastern states, which have become important hubs in international drug traffic. Predictably you see more involvement from the people (unlawful elements) from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Burma. Hence, India and its Narcotics Intelligence Bureau can not lower their guard.
The following table will indicate what are small quantities and commercial quantities in respect of different substances.
Things like Weed, Hash, and Bhang existed for centuries. It does not involve any serious processes of refinement. The traders by no means can be described as ultra-rich, powerful barons comparable to liquor czars and drug barons. If the Indian NIB had followed the desirable guideline of treating soft drug users differently from hard drug abusers, Aryan Khan would not have suffered the unwarranted pre-trial imprisonment. It is time that we look at the classification of hard drugs and soft drugs seriously and decriminalize many of the acts for which our younger generation is harassed unnecessarily.
Did Aryan Khan incident make bollywood drug usage from ‘rampant’ to ‘discreet’ ?
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