Net cos helping banned drug sales guilty: SC

BUSY DAY FOR PHARMA SECTOR

The Supreme Court today said an Internet service provider could be held guilty under the narcotics control law if its network was used to distribute banned drugs in the country and abroad.

The network providers could not be treated merely as "innocent intermediaries" under the Information Technology Act, the apex court said. The immunity provided by the Act from prosecution referred only to offences under that law but did not extend to nefarious trade, a Bench headed by Justice S B Sinha said.

In this case, Sanjay Kedia set up two companies, Xponse Technologies Ltd and Xponse Services Pvt Ltd, two years ago. The narcotics bureau raided the companies' premises but did not find any banned substance.

However, Kedia was arrested on electronic evidence. His application for bail was rejected by the special court and the high court. He then moved to the Supreme Court.

Without commenting on the facts of the case, the Supreme Court cited the report of the narcotics bureau that Sanjay designed, developed and hosted a pharmaceutical website and was using it to distribute huge quantities of drugs in the US from Kolkata. In view of the "overwhelming inculpatory evidence", the court refused bail.