The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday issued a suo moto Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning the alleged exploitation of minor girls as drug traffickers in Ahmedabad.
In this regard, the State Government has been served with a notice by the Secretary of the Home Department, the Director General of Police, the Women and Child Development Department, the State of Gujarat, and the Inspector General of Police.
A single bench of Justice Nikhil Kariel passed this order after taking note of a news article from Ahmedabad Mirror that claimed minor girls were being used as drug traffickers in Ahmedabad.
The bench has ordered the relevant authorities to file an affidavit-in-reply by March 21 on the following matters:
- Whether the newspaper article about young children being exploited as drug couriers in the city is accurate in any way, more specifically.
- If the newspaper report is accurate or somewhat accurate, what steps has the state done to prevent the minor children from engaging in this risky activity?
- How the state plans to rehabilitate the juveniles who have reportedly been involved in the risky industry or whether the state has any police for rehabilitating such youngsters.
Furthermore, the bench made it clear that it was not worried about the drug problem in the suo moto PIL, but rather that underage children were being utilised as drug suppliers.
It should be emphasised that the newspaper article cited by the Gujarat High Court was the result of an investigation by the Ahmedabad Mirror, which found that Afsana Ansari, alias Majjo, and other drug traffickers employed young girls and boys to deliver drugs to customers in the city. Further research found that Majjo pays children Rs 300 for each delivery.
