Prohibition Act: 2.5 lakh held in one-and-a-half years, says Gujarat Police

A total of 2,52,071 persons were arrested from January 2021 to July 2022 in the state, according to the statement released from the office of Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) Ashish Bhatia. Among those arrested, 1,99,622 people were held for country-made liquor cases, while 52,449 were arrested for those involving Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). In total, 2, 54, 203 FIRs were lodged under the Prohibition Act of which 43,355 were for IMFL and 2,10,848 were for country-made liquor cases.

“From January 2021 to July 2022, we have seized illicit liquor and 18,658 vehicles involved in its smuggling, the total value of the seizure is Rs 273.86 crore. Additionally, among the cases lodged under the Prohibition Act, at least 28,100 cases were against listed bootleggers. We have also arrested 1,234 bootleggers under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities (PASA) Act and banished (tadipaar) 749 other bootleggers,” read the statement.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report of ”Crime In India 2020″, among the four dry states of India, Gujarat, at 2,42,847, accounted for the highest number of prohibition cases followed by Bihar with 45,235 cases, Mizoram with 251 and Nagaland with 229. The NCRB reports do not mention arrests under Prohibition Act but categorise them under SSL (Special and State Laws). In 2020, 3,84,860 persons were arrested in Gujarat under SLL crimes, of which a significant section was prohibition cases.

Newsletter | Click to get the day’s best explainers in your inbox

Similarly, as per the Crime in India 2019 report, a total of 2,41,715 cases under prohibition were lodged in Gujarat followed by 49,182 in Bihar and 219 each in Mizoram and Nagaland. A total of 3,56,249 people were arrested in Gujarat under SLL crimes in 2019. As per the Crime in India 2018 report, a total of 1,99,751 cases under prohibition were lodged in Gujarat followed by 45,742 cases in Bihar, 236 in Mizoram and 272 in Nagaland, and 3,16,363 persons were arrested in the state that year.