High court bans sale of whitener in Uttarakhand

The Uttarakhand High Court today ordered a complete ban on the sale of whitener in the state following the death of a teenager from sniffing an excess of it for a kick in the district.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the death of the 14-year-old boy at Bhowali, about 10 km from here, yesterday due to sniffing excess whitener for a kick, the single bench of Justice Rajeev Sharma directed the state government to put a complete ban on its sale.
Besides, the high court also ordered that items such as Iodex and Feviquick should not be sold to children below 18 years of age in view of prevalent abuse of these among teenagers.

It must also be ensured that no minor gets entry into hookah clubs, Justice Sharma said.
Earlier this month,while rejecting the bail plea of an alleged drug peddler, Justice Sharma had directed the Principal Secretary of State to constitute a special task force to combat the nuisance of drug abuse.