Glass pieces in whisky bottle: Liquor outlet ordered to pay Rs 1 lakh compensation to Karnataka man

A consumer found broken glass pieces inside the bottle of branded whiskey they had purchased in Bengaluru.

A consumer court in Karnataka has ordered a liquor outlet to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh after a man from Belagavi district raised a complaint over glass pieces found inside an unopened whisky bottle. (Express photo for representation)

Written by: Kiran Parashar

2 min readBengaluruJun 28, 2023 09:22 AM IST First published on: Jun 27, 2023 at 02:15 PM IST

The Dharwad District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Chief E K Bhute on June 21 ordered the outlet to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for selling spurious whisky to the complainant besides Rs 10,000 in legal costs.

According to the complaint submitted to the commission, Shivaputra Prasappa Kumati, 31, a resident of Yalparatti village, bought a bottle of branded whisky from Wineland, a liquor outlet at Pinto Road, Hubballi on July 9, 2018 by paying Rs 650.

However, Kumati later noticed that there were broken glass pieces inside the bottle and did not open it. He returned to the outlet requesting a replacement, but the owner refused stating that the manufacturer was responsible for the defective product.

Kumati then approached the consumer forum and filed a case against the outlet’s owner and against the whisky manufacturer Pernod-Ricard India Pvt Ltd. The complainant pointed out that selling whisky which contained glass pieces was hazardous to health and also indicated deficiency of service.

He also produced the whisky bottle as evidence. The commission observed that there have been complaints regarding the presence of hazardous foreign materials inside bottles of various soft drink brands. In some cases, the sellers have also been penalised. It also pointed out that several entities also bring out fake products relying on the goodwill of reputed manufacturers.