Overview

• Justice Neena Bansal Krishna reserved the decision on Friday after hearing submissions from Gautam Gambhir’s side and the Delhi Drugs Control Department.
• The plea challenges a Rohini trial court summons and seeks quashing of the criminal complaint naming Gambhir, his wife Natasha, his mother Seema, the Gautam Gambhir Foundation, and its CEO Aprajita Singh.
• The Drugs Control Department opposed the filing as a direct approach to the High Court, saying Gambhir should have used the sessions court’s revisional remedy and that only a trial can assess the facts.
• Gambhir’s counsel contended the medicines were provided free at a medical camp to help people during the second wave and were not distributed for commercial purposes.
• The complaint invokes Sections 18(c) and 27(b)(ii) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, which provide for three to five years’ imprisonment and a fine, with an earlier High Court stay vacated on April 9 and the trial court matter next listed for September 8.