The Supreme Court of India on Thursday in a landmark decision ruled that officers invested with powers under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), 1985, are ‘police officers’ within the meaning of the Evidence Act and consequently, any ‘confessional statement’ made to them by a suspect will be inadmissible as an evidence court, in a verdict that could impact upon cases under the act.
The Supreme Court further stated that the statement of an accused recorded under section 67 of the NDPS Act cannot be used as a confessional statement in the trial of an offence under the act.
Interestingly, Rhea Chakraborty's and other statements were recorded under the same sections by the NCB. The majority judgement was written by Justices Rohinton F Nariman and Navin Sinha, while Justice Indira Banerjee dissented.
After this judgement, Rhea Chakraborty's lawyer Satish Maneshinde was the first to respond. He said, "The Judgement rendered by the Supreme Court in respect of section 67 of the NDPS Act is a landmark pronouncement. A large number of people have been incarcerated and punished on the basis of statements forcibly extracted by using third degree, coercion, and threats to innocent individuals violating their Fundamental Rights in the last 35 years."
"He (The Justice who passed the judgment) will go down in history as one of our greatest judges and be remembered for all times to come by those fighting for human rights and downtrodden people languishing in our overcrowded ill-maintained jails. Rhea Chakraborty’s case has lost total steam in the merits of the allegations by virtue of this Judgement," he added.