Moment of reckoning

THE clean chit, after the relentless hounding, to Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and five others in the drugs-on-cruise ship case is an inflection point for the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). No image makeover can restore the loss of credibility and trust for the country’s main drug law enforcement agency without admitting that there has been an erosion of fair play and ethics. There was expectation that the NCB would draw lessons and course-correct after the rap from the Bombay High Court while granting bail to actor Rhea Chakraborty in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, but the investigating agency’s probe trajectory has been disappointing.

The inept, unprofessional handling of the Mumbai case saw wild, unsubstantiated claims being tossed around; persistent leaks to the media; and unanswered questions on the presence of individuals with dubious credentials during raids. A special investigation team had to be formed after a Maharashtra politician’s dramatic disclosures about the problems with the case. A shoddy probe that invites reprimand for the investigating officials is par for the course, but not a pattern of functioning that goes against the basic ethos of a law-enforcing agency of the NCB’s stature, where it itself becomes the story.

Deciding against filing a case against 24-year-old Aryan can be a starting point for charting a new course for the agency. It has to change tack to address the serious drug-related issues, particularly after the regime change in Afghanistan. The direction to the NCB officers not to waste resources and time on cases involving possession of small quantities of drugs — which can be handled by the police — and instead focus on organised narco-terror and international mafia is a welcome step. It is equally vital to hold accountable the overzealous officials who do not think twice before misusing power, and who in their overreach can ruin lives and reputations.