A special narcotics court in Mumbai sentenced Kashmiri resident Ghulam Malik to death for trafficking hashish, the first capital sentence for drugs in the city.[1][2] Because Malik had been convicted twice, the sentence was mandatory under section 31A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, which punishes a second drug-trafficking conviction only with death.[1][3]
The case began in January 2002, when the Narcotics Control Bureau seized a truck carrying 142 kilograms of hashish in Ahmedabad and found documents showing 55 kilograms of it was meant for Malik in Mumbai.[1] On 14 January 2002, Mumbai officers tracked Malik to his Dongri home, found 1.8 kilograms of hashish there, and then raided a godown in Andheri where he said he had stored more, unearthing another 188 kilograms and booking him in a second case.[1]
Two convictions, one mandatory sentence
A fast-track court in Gujarat convicted Malik in the first case in March 2004 and sentenced him to ten years of rigorous imprisonment.[1] On 18 December 2007, Judge P B Sawant found him guilty in the Mumbai godown case, after which special public prosecutor Arun Gupte invoked section 31A.[1] Judge Sawant, who said he had never imposed capital punishment in 29 years in the profession, stated that duty compelled the sentence.[1]
Defence advocate Ayaz Khan argued the order could be questioned because both convictions arose from a single 2002 transaction, while the mandatory-death clause was meant to deter convicts who keep reoffending.[1] The International Drug Policy Consortium later confirmed Malik as the Kashmiri man sentenced to death in February 2008 for repeat smuggling of charas, cannabis resin.[3]