JOIN USIn dry Bihar, containing hooch tragedy a major challenge
“I am uninterested in knowing if deaths were caused by hooch or not. I want to know what caused so many deaths. And if it is due to hooch, track down the culprits, whoever they may be.” This was precisely what Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told an official who offered an explanation that the reason behind deaths could be other than consumption of illicit liquor.
Nitish’s anger was palpable as he has been relentlessly trying to impose prohibition in a state where he himself had allowed thousands of liquor shops to flourish during his first two terms. But in his third term as chief minister, he decided to fulfil the electoral promise made to women electorate on the eve of the Assembly polls. Since then, he has brought in several amendments in the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Bill 2016, and made it so stringent that some of his allies as well as opponents have dubbed it ‘draconian’.
Sample this:
a) All family members, above the age of 18, will be held guilty if prohibition law is violated at home;
b) Anyone who facilitates drinking and allows drinkers to gather at his house or fails to provide information about storage of liquor in his premises will be punished with a minimum eight year jail term extendable to 10 years with fine of up to Rs 10 lakh;
c) If liquor is found in a house, it will not only be sealed, but confiscated too;
d) A district magistrate can impose collective fine on a village/town if people violate prohibition repeatedly.
No wonder, the Bihar prohibition law is the most bizarre and draconian in the country as there is a provision for death sentence too in certain categories. Like for example, illicit liquor manufacturers, whose brew causes death, may attract capital punishment. Similarly, there is a provision for life sentence to those liquor makers whose brew causes permanent disability.
Whether such a law will withstand judicial scrutiny or not is a matter of debate – there are several instances of Supreme Court not awarding death and commuting death sentences. The amendments brought in in the new prohibition law defy principles of criminal jurisprudence.
As former chief minister Jagannath Mishra said, “The new provisions violates the Indian Penal Code and criminal jurisprudence by bringing in a new theory by which people would be punished for crimes committed by others, thereby making criminals out of innocent families, communities and companies.”
Mishra, who served as Bihar chief minister thrice and was once Union minister, has written to Governor Ram Nath Kovind not to give his assent to the prohibition law. “You will agree that whenever personal liberty is curtailed, it leads to an increase in incidents of suppression and injustice. You are well versed with the Constitution, hence I request you to hold assent to the bill under Article 200 of the Constitution in public interest or reserve it for Presidential assent,” Mishra said in his letter to the governor.
As the debate over the new prohibition law rages, there is no end to hooch tragedies in Bihar. Ever since prohibition was imposed in the state from April this year, more than 35 people have died in different hooch tragedies.
The Gopalganj hooch incident, where 16 persons died after reportedly consuming illicit liquor on August 18, is the first major incident since prohibition came
into force. And this has happened despite the state providing easy facilities to the
public to inform it on the whereabouts of illegal brewing/sale of liquor.
As a punitive measure, the Gopalganj district administration is now mulling over a proposal to impose collective fine on the residents of Khajurbani locality in Gopalganj for violating prohibition law. Section 68 (1) of the existing Excise Act stipulates of a collective fine. The legislation passed by both the Houses of the state legislature also has similar provision.
This provision was invoked earlier in the first week of August in Sheikhpura district where the villagers of Dadhi Tola were found repeatedly violating prohibition by brewing country liquor. The residents of Dadhi Tola in Murarpur village are known to brew mahua (country liquor). However, in the last one month, the excise department officials raided the village thrice and seized materials used in brewing country liquor, but still, the villagers continued to violate prohibition.
Setting example
The Nitish Kumar regime wants to set an example by punishing the main culprit in the Gopalganj case so that it serves as a deterrent to others who have not fallen in line and still brew illicit liquor. To ensure that prohibition is strictly implemented in the state, Nitish has made station house officers (SHOs) in police stations accountable. He has rewarded those who have performed their duties well, but also suspended 11 policemen who were found to be lax. This has made personnel of inspector level angry.
“Incumbent SHOs, and prospective candidates to be posted as SHOs, have written applications saying that they do not want such posting fearing their career prospects could be ruined forever,” said Bihar Police Association (BPA) president Mrityunjay Kumar Singh in his memorandum to Bihar DGP P K Thakur.
The new excise policy stipulates three year jail term if any officer is found guilty. Besides, it says, the inspector rank police officers, if found guilty, will not be eligible for holding the post of SHOs for 10 years.
Following this episode, two SHOs in Bihar have requested their respective SPs to relieve them of their posting and deploy them for other departmental job. Nitish Kumar has not appreciated their stand and asked them to resign from service if they can’t do justice to their assigned task.