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Repeat or subsequent crimes

Last updated on May 31, 2024

Trigger Warning: The following content contains information on drugs and narcotics which some readers may find disturbing. 

The punishment for repeat offenders under this law is very strict. If you were convicted once before for either committing, abetting or attempting to commit or even conspiring to commit a crime under the drug laws in India, the second or any subsequent punishment for the same crime can be 1.5 times higher, both for imprisonment and fine, than the previous punishment you received.1

In some serious cases, if you were convicted for a crime in relation to commercial quantity of a drug and are now being convicted again for the same crime, you may be given the death penalty.  Before 2014, death penalty was mandatorily imposed for certain subsequent offences, but that has now been changed and is left at the discretion of the judge.

 

  1. Section 31, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. [↩]

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