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Institutional care can keep minors away from drug trade: Court

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Press Trust of India New Delhi

The court also took note that the boy was residing with his stepmother and grandmother who have "no control" over him and his parents were living in Bangladesh.

"Admittedly, appellant (minor) was found carrying heroin in a large quantity and he was well aware about the matrix of the transaction, this itself establishes that someone is using him as a carrier of the contraband items.

"...If the appellant (minor) is not properly care at this stage, there is every likelihood that appellant may become the victim of nefarious activities of unscrupulous persons. Thus, institutional care is in the benefit of juvenile," additional sessions judge Pawan Kumar Jain said.

 

The minor had challenged the one-year detention awarded by Juvenile Justice Board for possessing 300 grams of heroin, which he had kept for delivering it to another person.

The court said the circumstances surrounding the boy requires that he should be under the watch of "institutional care" as there are likelihood of him going into the trade of drug trafficking.

It refused to reduce the sentence given by the Juvenile Justice Board, saying it had already taken a lenient view by sending the minor to special home for a period of one year.

"The Juvenile Justice Board, in its order, had opined that he was well aware about the business of drugs trafficking and was used as a carrier to carry the contraband.

  

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First Published: May 27 2012 | 8:55 AM IST

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