Maha Govt Amends IPC To Make Illegal Trading Of Medicines A Non-Bailable Offence

Mumbai, 27 May 2019: The Maharashtra government has amended section 274 to 276 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) to make the illegal trading of medicines a non-bailable offence. In the amendment, there is a provision for life imprisonment for those who are involved in trading of adulterated and spurious drugs. 

Until now, drug dealers used to get bail under provisions of IPC and continued with the nefarious activity of selling spurious drugs to gullible customers. The state FDA had to rely on police investigations without actually itself investigating the matter as per the D&C Act.

This is a significant development as the state has passed the Bill in the legislative assembly for the amendment of IPC Rules pertaining to spurious drugs. Maharashtra FDA had some time back proposed to the Maharashtra government to amend IPC rules in line with that stipulated in D&C Act, 1940 to make it more stringent for offenders.

The amendments have been made to penalise unscrupulous drug dealers who generally used to go scot-free after illegal trading in spurious drugs due to weak provisions under the current IPC rules. 

This will also help state FDA to take timely action after FIR has been lodged at the police station and chargesheets are filed. The state drug regulator until now was not able to conduct a thorough investigation as weak provisions under IPC created a major deterrent.

There was provision of imprisonment of only six months with or without fine of up to Rs. 10,000 under the current provisions of IPC. The state regulator had proposed to amend relevant sections of 274, 275 and 276 of IPC in line with the Section 27 (a) and Section 27 (c) of the D&C Act, 1940 so that appropriate action can be taken against people selling spurious drugs without a license.

Department of Medical Education and Drugs (DMED) had also reviewed the Maharashtra FDA proposal to the state government to bring in certain amendments in IPC.

Besides the aspect of investigation, D&C Act only empowers search and seizure of products and arrests can only be made through a proper investigative procedure which warrants lot of time and evidences. Therefore, the stricter IPC provisions were urgently required so that grievous hurt or damage to the patient or consumer can be averted in a timely manner.

The provisions in IPC were less stringent as compared to the D&C Act which provisions for life imprisonment and fine of not less than Rs. 10 lakh or three times of the spurious product confiscated.

Such amendments have also been implemented in the states of West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh in the interest of patient safety.Pharmabiz