Chehra chhupake rakhna: Consumption of drugs attracts a six-month jail term

There was anger, indignation and denial when the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) hauled off 231 men and women from a rave party at Juhu on the night of October 5, for allegedly consuming narcotics. Their parents cried foul, saying their children may have been present at the party at Bombay 72° East, but they did not consume drugs.

The revellers were sent to St George Hospital, GT Hospital, J J Hospital and Nagpada Police Hospital for urine and blood tests to check the presence of narcotics. Some of those results are out.

MiD DAY has the results of the tests conducted on the first batch of 100, which will be handed over to the ANC today.

The State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) admitted that the results for a little over 80 out of the 100, tested positive for drugs.

Rest in 15 days

"The rest 131 will be done in a fortnight," said Rukmini Krishnamurthi, director, SFSL and added, "We tested the urine and blood samples for confirmation of consumption of drugs, as required by the ANC of the Mumbai police."

The case also made headlines because actor Shakti Kapoor's son Siddhanth and Aditya Panscholi's daughter, Sana, were at the party. Said Panscholi, "I'm confident that my daughter Sana will test negative." Despite numerous attempts, Shakti Kapoor was not available for comment.

Krishnamurthi said she wasn't aware of the results on celebrity samples. "We treat all samples on par. If the kids of celebrities had consumed drugs and their samples show the presence of drugs at the time of the test, our report will say so," she said.

Kya hua tha?

In the early hours of October 6, the ANC busted a rave party at the Juhu pub after a 'couple' sent as decoy saw several people using drugs and signalled the police. Of the 231 detained, 37 were girls and all in the age group of 18 and 23 years. Drugs worth Rs 5 lakh were seized 850 grams of LSD worth Rs 4.5 lakh, 250 gram of charas, 104 ecstasy tablets worth Rs 1.5 lakh and 250 gm of marijuana worth Rs 15,000.

Nine were arrested immediately on charges of possession, distribution and consumption of drugs, of which seven have got bail and two, including DJ Ben Huen Shimon an Israeli, and a peddler are in judicial custody.

DCP Patil said that the cops have informed the special branch (immigration) and the Israeli consulate that Shimon had violated visa rules.

What next?
Under the NDPS Act, consumption of drugs attracts a maximum punishment of six months. Deputy commissioner of Police (ANC) Vishwas Nangre Patil, who carried out the raid, said parents of those arrested can approach the court and seek legal aid under section 64 (a) of the NDPS Act. This section allows the court to drop charges against first timers, provided they sign up for a certified de-addiction programme of six months and submit the completion certificate to the court.