Govt sets up 22 tribunals to expedite drug abuse trials

The government has set up 22 special tribunals across the country to accelerate trials over punishable drug abuse and trafficking offences, the law ministry said on Thursday.

Four of the tribunals have been set up in the capital, and the rest in Chattogram, Rajshahi, Narayanganj, Cox’s Bazar, Brahmanbaria, Bogura, Dinajpur and Jashore, the law ministry added in a notification.

Within the next two months, all the cases filed over punishable offences under the Narcotics Control Act, 2018 will have to be transferred to the nearest newly established tribunal from the trial courts at their current state of progress.

The offences will have to correspond to punishments of at least five years in jail, the notification read.

At present, over 1.66 lakh lawsuits over narcotics-related punishable offences are pending at lower courts across the country, including nearly 22,000 in the capital alone.