DJ Venkatesh
Bambooflat, Mar 04: On 19th February the Jirkatang Police seized 100 packets of Zarda from Anand Bus which were being sent for a shopkeeper at Kalighat. In spite of producing the bill and High Court’s Order the consignment was seized and after that the police personnel called the shopkeeper and asked him to deposit required fine.
On 22nd February Andaman Sheekha carried news about this seizure. Meanwhile, the police reportedly wrote a letter bearing letter no PS/BF/520 dated 25th Feb, 2018 to Designated Officer (FS) at Port Blair wherein the Food Safety department reportedly refused to collect the Zarda citing Hon’ble High Courts 15th Jan Order and suggested to handover the seized tobacco products to the party concerned at the earliest.
After all this lengthy process, the police has now called the shopkeeper and asked him to come all the way from Kalighat to Bambooflat to collect the seized materials back.
In this case PS Bambooflat was also helpless as the police station did not receive any official copy of the HC judgment on Zarda and hence they had to seize the Zarda consignment as per existing direction, which later triggered confusion. During any such development, the top officers of Andaman and Nicobar Police must ensure that all the Police Stations receive the official copy of Court’s judgment so that the Police Station can perform duties without any confusion and general public are not harassed, unnecessarily.
