'Investigation defective' Delhi Court acquits 3 women in drugs case

New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) A Delhi court has acquitted three women, each of them allegedly found in possession of 12 grams of smack, an opioid drug, observing there was no narcotics in the recovered samples.
     Additional Sessions Judge Ekta Gauba Mann was hearing a Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) case against Anju, Lalita and Monika, who were arrested by the IP Estate police based on a tip-off on May 4, 2017, near the Delhi Gate Metro Station.
     On October 28, the court observed the police had conducted a "defective investigation" as the probe saw no participation of an independent public witness during the recovery. The court also noted the absence of any CCTV footage of the scene of crime.
     The judge found the alleged recovery to be just above the "small quantity".
     Relaying on a forensics report, the court said no narcotic drugs and tranquilisers were found in the exhibits.
     "So the NDPS provisions could not be invoked against the accused. This erodes the credibility of the entire prosecution case. There is no incriminating evidence against the accused. Thus, the prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt," the court held.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)