India’s Court Backlogs Keep Drug Lords On The Streets

India’s Court Backlogs Keep Drug Lords On The Streets

Mangalore Today News Network

By Dr. G. Shreekumar Menon

Mangaluru, Jan 11, 2026: India’s justice system faces significant backlogs in drug cases, which allows drug traffickers, and peddlers to remain on the streets and undermines public trust. These delays ultimately result in cases being dismissed due to lack of evidence, witnesses not traceable, or corruption. India’s justice system is clogged with past, pending and new drug trafficking court cases – effectively sabotaging every effort to curb drug trafficking and consumption. India’s judicial process is on slow mode due to a combination of challenges and structural deficiencies. These include unwanted lengthy trial procedures, and insufficient judicial personnel to deal with these cases. In major drug trafficking matters, shoddy evidence gathering, ignorance of the provisions of the NDPS Act, and poor presentation before the court are also major factors. Court backlogs for drug cases in India are a significant issue, contributing to the nation’s overall judicial crisis of over 50 million pending cases across all court levels as of late 2025. In September 2025, the Kerala High Court noted a backlog of over 7,200 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act cases, pushing the state to establish special courts. Punjab reported having 35,000 pending NDPS cases as of January 2025.

The British imposed their judicial system on India, starting with the establishment of Mayor’s Courts in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1726, marking the introduction of English common law for Europeans, with major reforms under Warren Hastings (1772) creating separate civil (Diwani Adalat) and criminal (Faujdari Adalat) courts, and later formalization with the Indian Penal Code (1860) and High Courts (1865). The system was administered by state courts and featured written law, formal adversarial procedures effectuated by specially trained lawyers, and specific procedural rights, such as the right to counsel. The British viewed customary law as uncivilized and discouraged it.

The English criminal justice system, is oriented toward guilt and punishment, and struggles providing crime victims and communities with access to meaningful justice. Individuals trapped in drug addiction have been devastated, not just by incarceration itself, but by the tardy legal system and its effects on family and friends and the lingering collateral consequences.

The concept of ‘Restorative Justice’ is of recent vintage, which is being adopted by many countries to rehabilitate drug victims and offenders. The primary focus of restorative justice is to make victims whole, where possible, and even to strengthen relationships. It imagines a concerted social effort to address the causes and effects of drug crime. This effort is exemplified by the African ethos of ‘Harambee’—people pulling together. This approach could transform the focus of the Indian criminal justice administration from a bloated, bureaucratic carceral state that often harms individuals, to instead help people work together to realize their ideals of justice. 

It might be surprising to many legal observers that Americans have serious access to justice issues, Access to justice does not depend solely on strong institutions. Broad access to justice also requires culturally appropriate institutions, effective policies and adequate funding. The present legal system is extraordinarily expensive in terms of law enforcement, lawyers, courts, prisons and jails, and the true social costs are incalculable. Millions worldwide suffer from drug use disorders, with a significant percentage coming into contact with the criminal justice system.

Current laws, like the NDPS Act often lead to the imprisonment of individuals for possession for personal consumption, with severe penalties including substantial fines and prison terms. Of late, many Indian States have started hounding students trapped in the drug culture habit. This criminalization drives the problem underground and contributes to a cycle where many students are in prison not because they are violent criminals, but due to their socio-economic status, mental health issues and petty offences related to drug use. Drug use is worsened by any existing mental health crisis, including depression, academic stress, failure in examinations, ragging and trauma, with limited access to healthcare and significant social stigma, apart from exorbitant legal costs.

Restorative justice is an approach that focuses on healing, accountability, and problem-solving, involving victims, offenders, and the community in repairing harm rather than just focusing on punishment. 

On 11th March 2025 The Health and Justice side event at the 68th Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), organised by UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Section (CPCJS) with the support of Kenya, Nigeria, OAS CICAD, UNODC Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section (PTRS), WHO and VNGOC discussed the critical role of collaboration between health and justice systems in addressing drug use disorders. The event focused on Treatment and Care for People with Drug Use Disorders in Contact with the Criminal Justice System – Alternatives to Conviction or Punishment (ATI), showcasing how effective treatment can improve public health, public safety, and community outcomes.

The event underscored the importance of interdisciplinary partnerships between health and justice authorities to ensure effective treatment and care for individuals with drug use disorders in contact with the criminal justice system. Speakers emphasised that non-custodial measures, such as diversion to drug treatment, not only improve health outcomes but also reduce recidivism and alleviate prison overcrowding. They are more cost effective than probation and prison, thus saving public funds. Finally, they reduce drug use and the involvement of people in trafficking, thus denying organized crime its profits and human resources.

Statistics show that more than 30 million people worldwide are suffering from drug use disorders and only one in six have access to treatment, and this is according to the United Nations Office On Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) estimates. They also point to a situation where a huge percentage of these people are in prison or in other ways in contact with the criminal justice system at some point in their life.
 
In restorative justice processes, stakeholders deliberate and discuss how to restore the victimized, the victimizers, and the community following an injustice. Restorative justice means a process where all the stakeholders affected by an injustice have an opportunity to discuss its consequences and what is to be done to right the wrong. Substance abuse can be a source of profound injustice. Substance abuse by a family member can destroy the life of another family member in a way that is painfully unjust. Recognition by a substance abuser of the injustice caused by stealing from friends and family, lying, participating in rave parties or other untrustworthy behavior is often the kind of recognition of injustice that motivates change through restorative processes.

Families are forced to bear the burden of injustice out of love for the offender, offering support from one friend or family member to another. Because substance abusers routinely steal from loved ones and friends who protect them, and because abusers often suffer unacknowledged shame for putting their loved ones in this position, restorative justice programs outside the state criminal justice system can provide an opportunity for these hurts to be healed. The hope is that the process of confronting hurts and acknowledging shame to loved ones they care about will motivate a commitment to rehabilitation in a way that meetings with more unfamiliar police officers, lawyers, and judges would not.

India also needs to experiment with the concept of Restorative Justice, rather than emphasizing excessively on Police and enforcement action to overwhelm students and their families, into facing hard legal measures like arrest, bail and prosecution. As Howard J. Zehr, American criminologist, and pioneer of the modern concept of restorative justice, states “Restorative Justice is respect. Respect for all, even those who are different from us; even those who seem to be our enemies. Respect reminds us of our interconnectedness, but also of our differences. Respect insists we balance concerns for all parties. If we pursue justice as respect, we will do justice restoratively.”

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Dr. G. Shreekumar Menon, IRS (Rtd), Ph.D. (Narcotics)

Former Director General of National Academy of Customs Indirect Taxes and Narcotics & Multi-Disciplinary School Of Economic Intelligence India; Fellow, James Martin Centre For Non Proliferation Studies, USA; Fellow, Centre for International Trade & Security, University of Georgia, USA; Public Administration, Maxwell School of Public Administration, Syracuse University, U.S.A.; AOTS Scholar, Japan. He can be contacted at shreemenon48@gmail.com