FDA asked to take action over OTC non-prescribed white ink
A letter has been issued to Harshdeep Kamble, commissioner of food and drugs administration, & food safety commissioner, Maharashtra state to ban over the counter sale of non-prescribed white ink. 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 is being misused by children as a drug.
The letter submitted on June by Dipak Chattopadhyay, a member of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) and advocate of the Bombay High Court (a copy of which is available with the Free Press Journal) says, “I would like to seek your attention towards banning over the counter sale of non-prescribed white ink to check the drug menace in children below eighteen years of age.”
The letter further states that those supplying the white ink drug to children should be booked under the new law with at least a seven-year jail term similar to the judgment given by Delhi High Court and implemented by the Delhi government and Delhi police.”
Meanwhile, a letter that has been issued by the Government of Maharashtra to the FDA Commissioner on June 3 (a copy of which is available with the Free Press Journal) states, “As per the letter received from advocate Dipak Chattopadhyay on May 8, necessary action and inquiry should be conducted by the FDA department. A report should be submitted to the Maharashtra Government.”
On May 8, Chattopadhyay 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 drug abuse in children.
“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.
Meanwhile, a Public Interest Litigation(PIL) will be filed next month in Bombay High Court for the ban of over-the-counter sale of white ink without prescription across Maharashtra. White ink 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.
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.
The Juvenile Justice Board in Delhi had directed the Delhi government to assign one centre per district. The board had observed that at least 160 children are staying at two centres with a capacity of 100 people. The board had directed the Commissioner of Police, Delhi to ensure that those supplying these drugs to children should be booked under the new Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.