The Supreme Court today stated that internet providers could also be guilty under narcotics control laws if the facilities are used to distribute banned drugs in the country and abroad.The network providers could not be treated merely as "innocent intermediaries" under the Information Technology Act.The immunity provided by the Act from prosecution referred only to offences under the that law but did not extend to the nefarious trade, the bench headed by Justice S B Sinha emphasised.In this case, Sanjay Kedia, a highly qualified person set up two companies, Xponse Technologies and Xponse Services, two years ago. The narcotics bureau raided their premises but did not find any substance.However, he was arrested on electronic evidence. He applied for bail but it was denied by the special court and the high court. Therefore, he moved the Supreme Court.Without commenting on the facts of the case, the Supreme Court cited the report of the narcotics bureau which stated that Sanjay designed, developed and hosted a pharmaceutical website and was using it to distribute huge quantities of drugs in the US from Kolkotta. In view of the "overwhelming inculpatory evidence" the court denied his bail application.
