Nitish govt to seek stringent addition to prohibition law

Buoyed by the successful implementation of prohibition in Bihar from this fiscal but worried about certain loopholes in the Excise Act, the Nitish regime has decided to add more teeth to the existing law.

It will introduce a new bill in the state Assembly on Monday—the ‘Bihar Prohibition and Excise Bill 2016’.

The new legislation is more stringent in nature, in the sense that it has draconian provisions under which all adult members of a family will be held responsible if liquor is found in the house.

“If anything – liquid or solid including liquor, ganja, bhang, drugs, narcotics, is found in a house … all the family members above the age of 18 would be liable for the offence and would be prosecuted under relevant sections of the law,” says the bill, which will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Monday. 

The bill provides for a minimum punishment of 10 years in jail and maximum of a life term and minimum fine of Rs 1 lakh extendable to Rs 10 lakh for anyone found guilty of violating prohibition. 

‘Draconian measure’
The ruling Grand Alliance partner—the RJD—has voiced its concern over the draconian measures and even raised the issue when the chief minister held a joint meeting of the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress legislators on this matter.

“How can all family members above 18 be put behind bars if one person consumes liquor? I do not understand the logic. There is an urgent need to review the bill,” said RJD MLA Bhai Virendra.

Another party MLA Ram Vilas, too, expressed similar concerns. “What will we do if the police and excise officials trouble innocent people? There is a great scope of misuse of this new law,” he said.

Earlier, the BJP, too, had expressed its strong displeasure over the new legislation to be  introduced on Monday.

“The BJP is against the draconian provisions under which adult members will be held responsible if liquor is found in a house. Such steps will establish ‘Police Raj’ in Bihar. Such stringent measures are not applicable even for heinous crimes,” said senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
DH News Service