The Manipur High Court has granted a four-weeks’ time to the state government to file a response to a petition seeking drug users to be treated as victims of the drug trafficking and to file their appeal against the acquittal of former chairperson of the Chandel Autonomous District Council Lhukhosei Zou and others before the High Court of Manipur.
The case will be listed for hearing in six weeks, stated a release issued by the 3.5 Collective.
The Supreme Court of India is looking into the issue of whether the drug users who have suffered loss due to drug menace would be considered victims of the crime of drug trafficking, it stated.
If they are considered a victim of the crime, then they will have the right to appeal against the acquittal of drug traffickers even if the government fails to do so, it mentioned.
This issue was discussed in the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday listed in Court no. 17, as item no. 30 by a bench consisting of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and PB Varale in the Special Leave Petition, (Criminal) number 3010-3011 of 2022 filed by members of the 3.5 Collective, it mentioned.
It further stated that the petition was filed challenging the acquittal of former Chairperson of the Chandel Autonomous District Council Lhukhosei Zou and others by the Special NDPS Court as well as the High Court of Manipur’s judgment.
The acquittal of Lhukhosei Zou denied the Collective and particularly the members who had personally suffered due to the prevalence of drug trafficking in the region besides recovering addicts and family members of the recovered addicts to file an appeal against the judgment of the NDPS Court, it mentioned.
The counsel of Manipur Government pointed out that the appeal against the acquittal order has already been filed in the Manipur High Court and hearing will start from March 2024, it stated,
The 3.5 Collective counsels insisted on allowing the petitioners to file the appeal in the High Court as a matter of right in view of them being victims under the law, of drug trafficking and being personally aggrieved by the same, it mentioned.
The Government of Manipur objected to granting such permission to the petitioners and sought permission from the court to submit their response to the same. They also want other respondents to be served notice, it mentioned. Therefore, the court granted a four-weeks’ time to the state ggovernment to file a response to a petition, it added.
