Drug Peddlers Escape Conviction For Lack Of Evidence: Minister

Bhubaneswar: Excise minister Sashi Bhusan Behera on Monday admitted in the Odisha Assembly that most drug peddlers arrested by the police have managed to escape punishment due to lack of evidence.

Making a statement on the arrest and conviction of the drug peddlers during the question hour, the minister said arrested drug peddlers are either acquitted and granted bail as the police are not able to produce the seized narcotics in the court as evidence.

“As a result, the rate of conviction of the arrested drug peddlers in the state has been negligible in Odisha as compared to the neighbouring states,” he pointed out.

Giving a break-up in the rate of conviction of the drug peddlers in the state in the last four years, Behera said the rate of conviction of the drug peddlers in 2015 was 4.59 percent followed by 0.36 percent in 2016, 3.46 percent in 2017 and 3.62 in 2018.