Govt, not courts, should decide if people should drink: Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has said that the government -- and not the courts -- should decide on liquor sale and consumption.

"Who are you to decide," the MP said, referring to a recent Supreme Court rule banning the sale of liquor in a distance of 500 metres from a national or state highway. "The government, and not the court, should decide," Raut said at an awards event in Nashik last evening.

"If this is the case, then judges' clubs, which get government subsidy, should be closed down first," Raut said. "You (judiciary) get all facilities and yet destroy all the happiness in the lives of the people. Let there be at least some happiness in a democracy," he added.

Raut called the courts the "new rulers".

"Are you aware that courts have become the new rulers," he asked the audience at the event, where Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe was felicitated as an "outstanding" legislator. The outspoken MP, known for his controversial comments, also urged "those who have given such types of rulings" to resign and contest elections.

"We will know how many votes they get," Raut said.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice L N Rao had, while giving its ruling on March 31, had stressed the liquor ban was to prevent people from driving under the influence of liquor