CADA vice-president Dipanjit said that the government can’t be trusted anymore to curb the menace of drugs in the state honestly
TFM Desk
Coalition Against Drugs and Alcohol (CADA) on Monday slammed the state government for appealing against a judgement in a different case by another court on December 17, 2020, while sitting on the verdict of the Lhukhosei Zou case delivered on the same day despite the huge outcry.
The CADA vice-president vice Dipanjit Ningthoujam Dipanjit said that the accused in the case where the government had appealed against were once again put inside the jail. Such incidents revealed that if the government wishes then it can act whenever it pleases them and not on the merit of the case. He also decried the government for acting as per its wishes and not for the welfare of the people, the release added.
He was speaking at a sit-in held at Wangkhei Angom Leikai, Imphal East against the government’s silence over the acquittal of the main accused in the Lhukhosei Zou case and Phoudel Drug Case. The sit-in was organised by The Women’s Social Welfare Association and CADA, according to a release by CADA.
The CADA vice-president further said that the government can’t be trusted anymore to curb the menace of drugs in the state honestly. The democratic agitations demanding the government to appeal to a higher court against the acquittal of former Chandel ADC chairman Lhukhosei Zou and others have been going on for more than three months. But unfortunately, it has fallen on deaf ears, he added.
On December 17, 2020 a Special Court of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) acquitted the seven accused including Lhukhosei Zou from whose quarter a huge amount of drugs worth around Rs 27 crore were seized. The driver and a helper of Lhukhosei Zou were convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. CADA along with local clubs and Meira Paibi groups have been agitating at different places of the state demanding the government to appeal against the judgement.