The Delhi Police have arrested a 28-year-old woman shopkeeper for allegedly selling drugs and tobacco products to school children in central Delhi’s Baljeet Nagar. She was caught red-handed selling cigarettes to two minor boys who were sent as decoys, the police said on Wednesday.
The boys, aged 12 and 17, were among the many school children who regularly bought these articles from the woman. The police counselled the students and then asked for their assistance to nab the accused, who was arrested on Tuesday.
The police said that they had been regularly getting complaints regarding sale of tobacco products to minors around schools and coaching areas. The sale of tobacco to minors is prohibited by law. Local staff also got information that the woman was selling ganja to minors.
Officers of the Anand Parbat police station started scouting for underage tobacco customers who they could approach to pose as decoys. They finally zeroed in on two young students.
“We gave them currency notes of different denominations after noting down the serial numbers of those notes. The two went to the shop in the evening. One asked for a cigarette while the other for a packet of bidi and collected the articles after making the payment with the money we had given them,” said the officer.
As the children left, a police team visited the shop and arrested the woman whose name they did not disclose.
“She was booked under Section 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act and arrested. She was later granted bail,” said M. S. Randhawa, DCP (central).
Under Section 77 of the JJ Act, the offender now faces a jail term of seven years and a fine of Rs.1 lakh. Earlier, offenders used to be charged under IPC Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and used to get bail easily.
Last month too, a shopkeeper was arrested in Patel Nagar for allegedly selling cigarettes to minors and booked under Section 77 of JJ Act.
