Bihar liquor law: Less than 1% convicted since 2016

Between 2016, when the prohibition law came into effect, and October this year, the Bihar Police and Excise department has lodged 4 lakh cases, arresting about 4.5 lakh people, with about 1.4 lakh people being tried in various courts. Of those who faced trial, only about 1,300 people – or less than 1 per cent – were convicted, among them only 80-odd suppliers and traders. About 900 people have been acquitted for lack of corroborative evidence.

The Indian Express had in 2018 reported how the state’s marginalised sections have faced the brunt of the crackdown.

Alarmed by the overwhelming number of arrests of drinkers and the overcrowding of jails, the state government had amended the law in April last year to allow first-time drinkers to get away with a fine of Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000. Though the courts have expedited the bail process in prohibition cases, over 25,000 people continue to languish in jail awaiting trial.

On the poor conviction rate, a senior IPS officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “We have very few devoted prohibition courts in the state. Trial courts in any case are burdened with other pending cases. There have also been problems getting witnesses to courts.”

While Bihar Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) JS Gangwar on Friday refused to take questions on the Saran hooch tragedy and those related to prohibition, a police  headquarters Press release of October 12 had identified Patna, Rohtas, Nalanda, Buxar and Bhagalpur as the top five districts from where maximum arrests had been made since a special campaign was launched in September to crackdown on liquor consumption in the state.

At 2,094, Patna recorded the maximum number of arrests during the campaign while Vaishali topped the list in seizure of illicit liquor (30,960 litres). A government press note of December 2 said the state police have arrested 83 liquor traders from Haryana, Jharkhand, UP, West Bengal, Assam, Punjab, Delhi and Arunachal Pradesh.

An excise department official said enforcement agencies have conducted over 74,000 raids and seized over 2 crore litres of liquor, including about 80,000 litres of country liquor, since April 2016. The government has also seized about 70,000 vehicles.

The state government suffered a major setback this July when the Patna High Court acquitted all 13 people convicted by a Gopalganj court in March last year in connection with the August 2016 Khajurbani hooch tragedy, in which 19 people lost their lives. The Gopalganj court had sentenced nine of the accused to death and awarded life terms to four of them.

It was after the Gopalganj lower court’s verdict that Bihar CM Nitish Kumar first said “Piyoge to maroge (you will die if you drink)”, a line he repeated after the Saran hooch deaths.