Proposed amendments to India's National Anti-Doping Act grant officers greater powers to search and detain suspects, aiming to crack down on the supply and trafficking of banned substances and combat India's growing doping problem.
The proposed amendments to the National Anti-Doping Act could redefine the rules of engagement during operations to crack down on banned drugs in India as officers authorised by the central government would be allowed to search suspects in public places and even detain them for 24 hours depending on circumstances.
The amendments, which seek a jail term of upto five years and a fine of Rs two lakh for individuals found guilty of supplying and trafficking banned substances, have been posted online for public feedback till June 18.
After vetting the suggestions, the ministry plans to introduce the amended bill in the next session of Parliament.
The existing act allows the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) to enter any place and search premises if there is suspicion of violations to seize "equipment, device, substance, record, register, document or other material object" as evidence.
The amendment widens the ambit to include individuals as well.
"The officer shall, if the individual so requires, take such individual within twenty four hours to the nearest Gazetted Officer, superior in rank to him, or a Magistrate. Provided that the officer shall not detain such individual for more than twenty four hours prior to taking him to such Gazetted Officer or Magistrate," the amendment states.
It would then be up to the Gazetted Officer or the Magistrate to allow such search if he sees "reasonable grounds". The search of the individual would need to be undertaken in the presence of two or more witnesses.
"The officer shall record the statement of the individual searched in respect of anything seized in the course of such search," the amendment states.
In case a Gazetted Officer or the Magistrate is not available, the authorised officers would be allowed to search the detainee at an appropriate public place as per section 103 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
"...the officer shall record the reasons for such belief which necessitated such search and within seventy-two hours send a copy thereof to an officer, superior in rank to him," it adds.
"For the purposes of this section, the expression 'public place' includes any public conveyance, hotel, shop, competition, event or other place intended for use by, or accessible to, the public."
NADA has been working towards strengthening its Intelligence and Investigations Wing with support from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and recently a tip-off from the body resulted in the confiscation of several prohibited substances, including anabolic steroids like methenolone and stanozolol, in Najafgarh following a joint operation, that included the local police.
WADA has been emphasising on shifting the focus from athlete to suppliers in fight against doping. At a Global â¯Anti-Doping Intelligence and Investigations Network (GAIIN) Final Conference here in April, the world body revealed that 1.8 billion doses of banned Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) have been prevented from entering the market by cracking down on suppliers and organised crime syndicates.
WADA's ongoing 'Operation Upstream', which is being carried out with assistance from INTERPOL and law enforcement agencies of 20 countries, also includes India's CBI.
"For perspective, India has a population of 1.4 billion people and even if all of them got a dose of these substances, there would still be several 100 million left," WADA's Director of Intelligence and Investigations Gunter Younger had said during the conference.
India's doping problems have been a talking point for several years. The country has been topping the WADA's list of countries with most doping offenders for the last three years.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which is the anti-doping arm of World Athletics, recently designated India as a country with an "extremely high" risk of doping.