Rave: Police say no punitive action against those arrested

Even as 249 out of 287 arrested at the March 4 Pune rave tested positive for banned drugs, the Pune rural police seem to have taken a non-aggressive posture

Even as 249 out of 287 arrested at the March 4 Pune rave tested positive for banned drugs, the Pune rural police seem to have taken a non-aggressive posture, saying there will be no punitive action but only an attempt to rehabilitate them.

Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Vishwas Nangre Patil said today, “I was very disturbed after the arrests of the youth. They are my brothers and sisters and have a career ahead of them. We don’t want to ruin their careers and never saw them as criminals, but more as victims.”

As per the medical reports prepared by the forensic laboratory here, which were made available to the rural police yesterday, 249 out of the 287 arrested have tested positive for drug abuse.

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“No punitive action will be taken against the accused. We are planning to conduct a police-parent -NGO meet to find out a comprehensive solution to the whole issue. Even hospitals will be roped in to carry out a comprehensive rehabilitation programme for them,” Patil said, who admitted that 86 per cent turning out positive for drug abuse was big.

According to Patil, the police are in the process of taking action under Section 64 A of NDPS (Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act, which says that the accused can undergo a de-addiction course at any bonafide de-addiction centre run by NGOs. All 287 accused were booked under NDPS Act ,1985. This is in sharp contrast to the strict view taken by the police about the court granting bail to the arrested.