The
smuggling of contraband in India is an age-old
phenomenon. In early seventies, these activities
became so rampant that it started posing a serious
threat to the Indian economy. The penal provisions of
the Customs Act and the Foreign Exchange Regulations
Act were not deterrent enough to prevent the smugglers
and foreign exchange violators from indulging
in such offences. To curb the increasing deleterious
effect of these illegal activities on the national
economy, the Government of India enacted the Conservation
of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling
Activities Act, 1974. This Act provides for detention
of persons indulging in smuggling or violating
foreign exchange regulations. The wealth amassed
by these criminal activities is invariably invested
in properties. The Government, therefore, to eliminate
the incentive to indulge in such nefarious activities,
brought in the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange
Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976
commonly called SAFEMA, designed to forfeit ill-gotten
properties of the offenders irrespective of whether
such properties are held in their own names or
in the names of their relatives, associates and
confidants.
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India was not in the scenario of drug trafficking till late seventies. Geographically,
India is flanked by Golden Crescent and Golden
Triangle - the two main sources of opiates in
the world - and Nepal, which is the major source
of cannabis. Thus, over the years, India emerged
as a major transit country for the movement of
narcotic drugs from these areas to other parts
of the world. However from early eighties, India
started becoming vulnerable to trafficking in
drugs as a transit country for movement of drugs
from the neighboring countries to other parts
of the world and the problem assumed alarming
proportions. The transit traffic has resulted
in a spillover problem and drug addiction took
its roots in India. With this, the clandestine
manufacture of various narcotic drugs and psychotropic
substances started in India. At that point of
time, such operations were governed by Opium Act
of 1857, Opium Act of 1878 and the Dangerous Drugs
Act of 1930. These antiquated laws were not vigorous
enough to combat growing menace of drug trafficking.
To meet this challenge, the Government of India
took legal, administrative and preventive steps.
As a first measure, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances Act, 1985, in short NDPS Act, was enacted
repealing the erstwhile laws. In order to further
strengthen the hands of the enforcement agencies,
provisions of preventive detention under which
the drug traffickers could be detained for a period
of one to two years so as to prevent them from
indulging in such illegal culture were brought
in the PITNDPS Act in 1988. United Nations Convention
of 1988 against illicit traffic in narcotic drugs
and psychotropic substances provided for identification,
tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of
the properties relating to drug crimes. For implementing
these provisions, the NDPS Act was further amended
in the year 1989, by introducing Chapter V-A providing
for forfeiture of properties derived from, or
used in illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and
psychotropic substances. It also provided for
seizing or freezing of properties identified as
relatable to illicit drug traffic.
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