HC bail for drug lord’s wife sentenced to 15 years in jail
Times of India | 4 November 2024
1234 Kolkata: In police records, husband-wife Joydeb and Gouri Das are kingpins of Kolkata's drug trafficking network. Gouri, sentenced to 15 years in jail, was recently granted bail by the Calcutta High Court because police failed to seize the 21.8 kg of ganja found with her according to legal norms.
Gouri moved the HC challenging her 15-year conviction after spending more than three years as an undertrial and nearly five months as a convict. A special Alipore court on April 8, 2024, sentenced her to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh. Joydeb was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 2 lakh in the same case. Gouri was arrested a day after Joydeb, on Nov 28, 2019, and was booked under sections 29, 20 (b) (II)(C) of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
Joydeb was intercepted near New Dutta Nursery at Sealdah court and arrested on Nov 27, 2019. Cops recovered 1.1 kg of charas from his possession. During the investigation, Joydeb said huge quantities of drugs were stored in his Tangra residence and also revealed that Gouri was working for his drug business. Based on his statement, his house was searched and ganja weighing around 21.8 kg was recovered. TOI earlier reported that Joydeb told locals he was a social worker and ran an NGO. Police said his residence was difficult to access because he kept canine guards — a Rottweiler and a Dobermann.
Gouri's lawyer Joy Chakraborty told the HC that samples of the contraband were drawn at the place of seizure and not before the Magistrate, which was a violation of section 52(A) of the NDPS Act. He said she is not a previous convict and does not have any criminal antecedents. "If the execution of the judgment is not suspended, this petitioner, being the mother of two school-going children, would suffer irreparable loss," he said.
The HC division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Prasenjit Biswas on Sept 27, 2024, suspended the sentence imposed. "The provisions of the NDPS are extremely stringent. It contains necessary safeguards against arbitrary search, seizure, and arrest, or else it would foul the fundamental rights chapter of the Constitution of India, and hence the same requires strict adherence to the law and procedure," the judgment said.