Listen To This Post

 In Jharkhand, where a court last month acquitted an accused in a narcotics case after police claimed that 200 kg of seized ganja had been eaten by rats while in official custody.

 Written by Naveen Mishra

Ranchi: There exists, it seems, a faraway country—eerily familiar yet officially unnamed—where every awkward silence is broken by the sound of man’s best friend dutifully chewing on man’s child’s homework notebook. It is a land where grandmothers die with alarming frequency, adults are invariably struck by food poisoning , and excuses are legal tender. The national currency here is not gold or paper, but the endlessly negotiable “doctor’s note.”

In this curious republic, the justice system faces a unique and persistent threat: rodents in active collaboration with criminal gangs, besieging police stations to consume evidence before it can reach a courtroom. And no, this is not satire. Or at least, not entirely.

The latest chapter in this long-running saga unfolded in Jharkhand, where a court last month acquitted an accused in a narcotics case after police claimed that 200 kg of seized ganja had been eaten by rats while in official custody.

The court was not amused. Referring to a station diary entry that solemnly recorded the “gnawing of the ganja,” the judge observed that the explanation “casts a suspicion on the very seizure of the case and its handling by the police.” With the evidence allegedly reduced to rodent snacks, the prosecution’s case collapsed—leaving justice chewed, if not entirely swallowed.

A Well-Travelled Alibi

For those tempted to dismiss Jharkhand’s episode as a one-off, history offers comfort—and concern. Back in Mathura in 2022, police reportedly informed authorities that over 500 kg of confiscated cannabis had been destroyed by rats while stored in a malkhana. The rodents, it appeared, had both the appetite and the access.

The phenomenon is not limited to India. In 2024, the police in Houston admitted to a similar embarrassment when it emerged that rodents had been feasting on marijuana kept in storage. The situation was summed up memorably by the CEO of the Houston Forensic Science Center, who remarked, “Think about it—they are drug-addicted rats. They’re tough to deal with.”

Indeed. Once rodents develop a taste for high-grade contraband, deterrence becomes a complex problem.

From Chewed Homework to Eaten Evidence

The rats’ defence, though yet to be recorded in court, seems to belong to that same mythical land where dogs eat homework and files vanish into thin air. After all, if canines can develop literary tastes overnight, why can’t rodents cultivate a fondness for narcotics?

But courts are increasingly sceptical. While rodents are a real and persistent problem in poorly maintained storage facilities, judicial patience appears to be wearing thin. The repeated appearance of this explanation—across states, years and continents—has raised uncomfortable questions about evidence management, custodial responsibility and convenient storytelling.

A Menace That Must Be Proven

If drug-addicted rats truly are roaming police storerooms, gnawing their way through evidence and undermining prosecutions, then they represent a public menace that must be dealt with—humanely, of course. But before declaring war on rodents, the facts must be firmly established. Until then, the ganja-guzzling rat remains an oddly global character: part criminal mastermind, part convenient scapegoat. And somewhere in that faraway country of excuses, justice waits—hoping not to be eaten next.