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This is an archive article published on March 4, 2023
NHRC to Bihar govt: Pay Nalanda hooch victims’ families Rs 3 lakh each
Ten people had died on January 14-15 last year at Sohsarai in Nalanda after consuming spurious liquor. Two others had also lost vision in the suspected hooch tragedy. Brajesh Singh, an advocate, had filed a complaint with the NHRC on January 18.
The godown owner, Sunil Chadha, lodged an FIR at the Industrial Area police station.
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NHRC to Bihar govt: Pay Nalanda hooch victims’ families Rs 3 lakh each
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In a setback to the Bihar government, which refused to pay compensation to families of those dying of drinking spurious liquor, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed it to pay Rs 3 lakh each to the next of kin of the 10 people who had died in Sohsarai, Nalanda, in January last year.
Even as the state government argued that “violators of law did not deserve any sympathy”, the rights panel saw no merit in the argument and rather blamed the Nalanda district administration for laxity and ordered compensation be paid within six weeks.
Ten people had died on January 14-15 last year at Sohsarai in Nalanda after consuming spurious liquor. Two others had also lost vision in the suspected hooch tragedy. Brajesh Singh, an advocate, had filed a complaint with the NHRC on January 18.
In its order on Thursday, NHRC said: “…the reply of the show-cause notice does not controvert the findings of the commission. The commission has also observed that there has been negligence on the part of the Police Department. Hence, a recommendation is made for payment of Rs 3 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased by the Bihar government through its Chief Secretary…”
On October 21 last year, NHRC had issued a show-cause notice to the chief secretary, asking “why the compensation of Rs 3 lakh each be not recommended by the commission to the state to be paid to the kin of each deceased for the negligence of the police”.
Earlier, responding to the NHRC poser, Nalanda SP had contended: “… consumers of poisonous liquor were the violators of law and they have consumed it against the law. Since they all are law violators, they do not deserve any sympathy by any constitutional authority or forum of law…”.
The complainant, advocate Brajesh Kumar Singh, told The Indian Express: “Amid the tussle between NHRC and the state government, this is an important development in this case. NHRC has taken suo motu notice in a couple of recent hooch tragedies, including the Saran case”.
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CM Nitish Kumar had said in Assembly during last session that “there was no question of government paying compensation” to Saran hooch victims’ families.
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