2G accused rakes up Gauhati HC order to seek stay on trial

November 8, 2013

New Delhi, Nov 8: Former Telecom Minister A Raja and other accused in the 2G scam today pushed for a stay on the proceedings of the case in a Delhi court in the wake of the ruling of the Gauhati High Court holding as "unconstitutional" the setting up of the CBI.

In a related development, Congress leader Sajjan Kumar wanted the court to declare as "illegal" the probe and charge sheets filed by the CBI in a 1984 anti Sikh riots case against him in the wake of the High Court verdict.

Raja and other 2G accused including top corporate executives said continuance of the trial in the case which has been probed by CBI would amount to contempt of court.

"Before we proceed today I want to mention that the nation today woke up with banner headlines in newspapers that the CBI is not police.

"By coincidence the chief Investigating Officer happens to be in the court today and in view of the Gauhati High Court judgement we should not proceed with the proceedings otherwise it would be a contempt of court," Majeed Memom, appearing for accused Swan Telecom Promoter Vinod Goenka, told the court.

"Sir, I can show you the judgement here," Raja's counsel Manu Sharmahe told Special CBI Judge O P Saini who declined their oral plea to halt the trial and went on with the testimony of Chief Investigating Officer and CBI SP Vivek Priyadarshi.

"I have read the newspaper but I cannot go by the media reports," the judge said.

At the end of the day, the defence lawyers placed before the court judgement of the high court and said they will move a formal application in this regard in the court on Monday.

In its judgement, the High Court has struck down the 1963 resolution through which the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) was set up and held all its actions "unconstitutional".

The Centre has decided to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict.

Kumar's counsel mentioned the judgement before District Judge J R Aryan and said if CBI itself is unconstitutional, its probe and charge sheets are also illegal.

The judge, however, said the effect of this judgement is not clear at this stage as it is too early and asked the counsel to proceed with the case which will now come up for hearing on November.

The court had earlier framed various charges including murder and rioting against Kumar, Brahmanand Gupta, Peru, Khushal Singh and Ved Prakash in connection with killing of a man in Sultanpuri area in the riots that had occurred after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. Accused Khushal Singh has died.

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Average age of school children picking up drugs, smoking habit in 10 Indian cities around 13 years!

News Network

December 13,2025

New Delhi: School-going children are picking up drug and smoking habits and engaging in consumption of alcohol, with the average age of introduction to such harmful substances found to be around 13 years, suggesting a need for earlier interventions as early as primary school, a multi-city survey by AIIMS-Delhi said.

The findings also showed substance use increased in higher grades, with grade XI/XII students two times more likely to report use of substances when compared with grade VIII students. This emphasised the importance of continued prevention and intervention through middle and high school.

The study led by Dr Anju Dhawan of AIIMS's National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, published in the National Medical Journal of India this month, looks at adolescent substance use across diverse regions.

The survey included 5,920 students from classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 in urban government, private and rural schools across 10 cities -- Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ranchi. The data were collected between May 2018 and June 2019.

The average age of initiation for any substance was 12.9 (2.8) years. It was lowest for inhalants (11.3 years) followed by heroin (12.3 years) and opioid pharmaceuticals (without prescription; 12.5 years).

Overall, 15.1 per cent of participants reported lifetime use, 10.3 per cent reported past year use, and 7.2 per cent reported use in the past month of any substance, the study found.

The most common substances used in the past year, after tobacco (4 per cent) and alcohol (3.8 per cent), were opioids (2.8 per cent), followed by cannabis (2 per cent) and inhalants (1.9 per cent). Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids was most common among opioid users (90.2 per cent).

On being asked, 'Do you think this substance is easily available for a person of your age' separately for each substance category, nearly half the students (46.3 per cent) endorsed that tobacco products and more than one-third of the students (36.5 per cent) agreed that a person of their age can easily procure alcohol products.

Similarly, for Bhang (21.9 per cent), ganja/charas (16.1 per cent), inhalants (15.2 per cent), sedatives (13.7 per cent), opium and heroin (10 per cent each), the students endorsed that these can be easily procured.

About 95 per cent of the children, irrespective of their grade, agreed with the statement that 'drug use is harmful'.

The rates of substance use (any) among boys were significantly higher than those of girls for substance use (ever), use in the past year and use in the past 30 days. Compared to grade VIII students, grade IX students were more likely, and grade XI/XII students were twice as likely to have used any substance (ever).

The likelihood of past-year use of any substance was also higher for grade IX students and for grade XI/XII students as compared to grade VIII students.

About 40 per cent of students mentioned that they had a family member who used tobacco or alcohol each. The use of cannabis (any product) and opioid (any product) by a family member was reported by 8.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of students, respectively, while the use of other substances, such as inhalants/sedatives by family was 2-3 per cent, the study found.

A relatively smaller percentage of students reported use of tobacco or alcohol among peers as compared to among family members, while a higher percentage reported inhalants, sedatives, cannabis or opioid use among peers.

Children using substances (past year) compared to non-users reported significantly higher any substance use by their family members and peers.

There were 25.7 per cent students who replied 'yes' to the question 'conflicts/fights often occur in your family'. Most students also replied affirmatively to 'family members are aware of how their time is being spent' and 'damily members are aware of with whom they spend their time'.

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