PIL on ban on sale of non-prescribed white ink soon
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) will be filed next month in Bombay High Court for the ban of overthe-counter sale of white ink without prescription across Maharashtra.
Despite a statutory warning being issued on white ink bottles and pens that it is not be sold to children below 18 years, it is freely available across the state and it is being misused by children as a drug.
According to advocate Dipak Chattopadhyay, a member of the Juvenile Justice Board and advocate of Bombay High Court, “I shall be filing a Public Interest Litigation at the Bombay High Court in June. On May 6, I had submitted a letter to MN Jamandar, Head of the Law and Judiciary Department at Mantralaya; Sumeet Mallick, the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra; and Rajnish Seth, Principal Secretary of Home Department at Mantralaya, to issue an order on the ban on the sale of over the counter sale of whitener across Maharashtra to check the drug abuse in children. Despite repeated follow-ups, there has been no response from the higher officials at Mantralaya. So, I have decided to seek the intervention of the court.”
“There is a statutory warning printed on the white ink bottles and pens that it is not to be sold to children under 18 years of age since it contains harmful chemicals. Taking cognisance of this, it has been banned in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttarakhand.
“However, it is being sold over the counter without any prescription across Maharashtra. Strict action should be taken against the sellers as well as companies manufacturing it. The accused should be punishable as per Section 77 (Penalty for giving intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug or psychotropic substance to a child which is punishable up to seven years and fine up to Rs 1 lakh) and Section 78 (using a child for vending, peddling, carrying, supplying or smuggling any intoxicating liquor, narcotic drug or psychotropic substance will be rigorously punished for seven years) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015,” said Chattopadhyay.
A letter was also submitted to Datta Padsalgikar, the Commissioner of Mumbai Police, and Shivdeep Lande, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Anti-Narcotics cell.
According to Shivdeep Lande, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Anti-narcotics cell, “There is no mechanism in place to keep a record on the number of children below 18 years of age making a misuse of white ink since it is not covered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act(NDPS) Act.”
In April 2017, the Delhi government implemented a ban for over the counter sale of white ink which is punishable as per the new Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. The ban covers restriction on production, sale of bottled correction fluids as well as thinners, of any chemical composition, both for ink erasing purposes as well as for use as nail paint removers and similar other purposes for retail sale.
It is freely available across the state and is being misused by children as a drug