High conviction rates in drug cases do not necessarily translate to dismantling trafficking networks. Analyse with reference to Punjab's experience.

Q. High conviction rates in drug cases do not necessarily translate to dismantling trafficking networks. Analyse with reference to Punjab's experience. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Conviction rate measures courtroom outcomes; dismantling a network means breaking its supply, finance and protection chains. Punjab — among the highest states in NDPS case registration and a transit point on the Golden Crescent route — shows how sharply the two can diverge [2].

Punjab's paradox - Sustained mass enforcement (the state's 2025 "war against drugs" drive) and one of the country's highest NDPS conviction rates coexist with a Supreme Court finding (May 2026) that drug abuse and trafficking "continue unabated" [1]. - The CJI-led Bench observed that police are "keen on getting publicity" by arresting a small villager or poor boy, while "bigger sharks" and influential persons remain unarrested [1].

Decomposing the gap - Selection bias in the caseload: convictions cluster in street-level possession cases, where recovery evidence is simple. Prosecuting financiers under conspiracy provisions demands surveillance, call-data and inter-state evidence — harder, hence rarer. - Replaceability: peddlers are the most substitutable node; removing them leaves sourcing, storage and distribution intact. - Untouched proceeds: without parallel financial investigation and forfeiture of illegally acquired property, the drug economy refinances fresh consignments. - Cross-border supply: heroin keeps entering via the Pakistan border through drones and tunnels, despite BSF and RPF being empowered to search, seize and arrest under the NDPS Act [3]. - Accountability deficit: judicial criticism points to local political shielding — an enforcement problem, not a statutory gap [1].

What dismantling would require - Backward-linkage investigation of every commercial-quantity seizure, measured by kingpins convicted and assets forfeited rather than case volume. - Full use of the 4-tier NCORD coordination mechanism and State ANTFs [3], and of the NCB's upgraded Amritsar Zonal Unit for the north-west corridor [4]. - Treating addicts as patients through de-addiction and rehabilitation, cutting demand that sustains supply.

Punjab's record proves enforcement statistics can rise while networks survive. Shifting the yardstick from arrests to network disruption — supported by Centre–State intelligence sharing and community rehabilitation — would make enforcement substantive, restoring the life with dignity that Article 21 promises Punjab's youth.

(~320 words)

Sources: 1. "SC criticises Punjab govt. over drug menace" — The Hindu, 9 May 2026 — Supreme Court's observations on unabated trafficking, publicity-driven arrests of small peddlers and unarrested "bigger sharks" 2. PIB — "Seizure of Narcotics in Punjab" — Punjab's NDPS case load and heroin seizures along the cross-border route 3. PIB — "Strengthening NDPS Act and Tackling Cross-Border Drug Trafficking" — 4-tier NCORD mechanism; BSF and RPF empowered under the NDPS Act 4. PIB — "NCB Offices in Punjab" — upgrade of NCB's Amritsar Sub-Zone to a fully operational Zonal Unit