No longer playing the victim role, more and more women have grabbed higher positions in the drugs trade.
A fan whirs desperately, trying to slice through the treacle-thick humidity in Kolkata. Files clutter the wooden desk in the Alipore courtroom. At noon, a plump, middleaged woman struggles to stay vertical in the centre of the room. She is one of Kolkata’s many drug queens, Deepti, and has been charged with the intention to sell cannabis under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. If convicted, she faces a minimum of ten years in jail. This could be extended to 20 years.
The defence has argued she is unwell. It was after several rounds of thorough medical tests that she was cleared for a court appearance. “She is a gutsy lady,” says a court official.
The assessment seems correct; for years, with her posse of goons, Deepti has been running her 'business' ruthlessly. She had links with policemen, who would stay clear of her area. But, when Behala, in southwest Kolkata, fell under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Police in 2011, the cops closed in on her. “We believe that she controlled more than a few areas in the city. Her empire stretched from the port area to Thakurpukur and Behala,” says a police officer. Among her clients were students from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.
Deepti is just one member of a sorority of notoriety. In the past few years, across Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Kolkata, Agra, Mumbai and Chennai, more and more women have grabbed higher positions in the drugs trade.
This story is from the May 8, 2016 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 8, 2016 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Divides And Dividends
Contrasting narratives on the scrapping of Article 370 define the elections in Jammu and Kashmir
Playing it cool
Everybody knows what 420 means in the Indian context. But in American parlance it is something very different: four-twenty or 4/20 or April 20 denotes cannabis celebration; its cultural references are rooted in the hippie culture of the 1960s and 1970s.
The heroine's new clothes
Who else but Sanjay Leela Bhansali could bring on a wardrobe reset like the one in his just-dropped period piece—an eight-part Netflix series called Heeramandi?
AI & I
Through her book Code Dependent—shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction—Madhumita Murgia gives voice to the voiceless multitudes impacted by artificial intelligence
Untold tales from war
Camouflaged is a collection of 10 deeply researched stories, ranging from the world wars to the 26/11 terror attacks
Hair force
Sheetal Mallar, in her photobook Braided, uses hair as a metaphor to tell a story that is personal yet universal
THE WHITE TIGER GAVE ME CONFIDENCE IN MY ABILITIES
The first time Adarsh Gourav made an impression was in Ramin Bahrani's 2021 film The White Tiger, a gripping adaptation of Aravind Adiga's Booker-winning novel.
The art of political protest
The past doesn’t always remain in the past. Sometimes, it emerges in the present, reminding us about the universality and repetitiveness of the human experience. Berlin’s George Grosz Museum, a tiny gem, is a startling reminder that modern political and social ills are not modern. Grosz lived through World Wars I and II, shining a torch into the heart of darkness in high-ranking men and women—who were complicit in the collapse of the world as they knew it.
REFUELLING DYING SATELLITES
A Chennai company is making waves in the world of space tech startups
DIVERSITY IN UNITY
THE SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY IN THE US HAS SEVERAL THINGS IN COMMON, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS, THERE ARE WIDELY DIFFERING OPINIONS AND FEELINGS