Whoever indulges in financing, directly or indirectly, any of the activities specified in sub-clauses
(i) to
(v) of clause (viiia) of section 2 or harbours any person engaged in any of the aforementioned activities, shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to twenty years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees :
Provided that the court may, for reasons to be recorded in the judgment, impose a fine exceeding two lakh rupees .
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 27A
Section 27A prescribes stringent punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring persons engaged in drug trafficking.
Section 27A provides aggressive penal sanctions against drug syndicates, targeting the financial backers and harbourers of narcotics trafficking networks.
Section 27A is designed to capture the masterminds of narco-syndicates. Kingpins rarely carry physical drugs, operating through couriers and hawala financiers. Section 27A treats money transfers, vehicle funding, and sheltering of operatives as primary offences carrying ten to twenty years imprisonment.