Drug addict aspires to be a lawyer after being in jail

After completion of his sentence, family refused to take him back thus police provided him shelter

Archit Sharma, a resident of Uttrakhand was arrested on June 25, 2019, for stealing 120gm of gold jewellery from his residence to buy drugs. After which his maternal uncle suspected him of stealing and lodged a complaint.

“My friends introduced me to drugs and I had become an addict at 16. The pocket money my mother gave me was not enough to meet my smack demand. So I stole the ornaments of my mother and maternal grandmother. Their price in the market was over 3.5 lakh but I sold them for Rs 2 lakh. My uncle was suspicious due to my addiction. When he beat me up, I confessed. He lodged a police complaint,” said Archit. He was booked under IPC sections 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and 380 (theft in dwelling house).

The 21-year-old’s remaining jail term has been pardoned due his good conduct in police station after being sentenced for a year in jail, as he confessed to his crime before the magistrate. Due asurge in COVID-19 cases in Uttrakhand, he was released on parole earlier this year. “My uncle refused to take me. My mother is dependent on him and could not help. I slept on the road for four nights,” he further added telling that after his father’s death, he had to move to his uncle’s residence along with his younger sister and mother.

Amarjeet Singh Rawat, police inspector said, “One night, he came crying to the police station and said he wanted to change. I allowed him to stay for the night. Next day, I found him helping the staff in distributing food packets to people stranded during the lock down. I saw hope. I came to know that he was a good student. I asked him what he wanted to do, he said he wanted to complete class 12 and study law.”

According to Archit’s family, he scored 8.8 CGPA in boards when he cleared his class 10 and sent to Bengaluru. In 2017, he dropped out of 12th after he got supplementary in Accounts because of his drug addiction. He also returned to Dehradun and started working at dhabas for two years.

Now inspector Rawat is looking after Archit's educational expenditures and enrolled him for class 12 and also provided a room and books in the police station premises. “Archit has quit his addiction,” the inspector added.