Haryana to go easy on minor violations of Prohibition Act

CHANDIGARH, May 21: The Haryana government will compound all cases of minor offences registered under the Prohibition Act. It has decided to...

CHANDIGARH, May 21: The Haryana government will compound all cases of minor offences registered under the Prohibition Act. It has decided to take a lenient stand towards minor violators. Compounding minor offences, where the violators were booked for peddling or possessing four bottles of liquor during prohibition days, would help unburden the government of thousands of cases registered all over the state.

The decision was taken after the government decided to adopt a lenient view on such violators and bring about uniformity in the law which existed before and after prohibition, allowing an individual to carry four bottles of liquor and 12 bottles of beer.

At least 75,000 cases under the Prohibition Act were registered during the 21-month dry period in Haryana, and at least 7,000 vehicles used for boot-legging were impounded. The decision would bring relief to many minor violators of the law and about 50,000 pending cases would fall under this amnesty. At least 80 per cent of the confiscated vehiclesused for smuggling liquor during prohibition would be now restored to their owners. This would help find a solution to the problem of confiscated liquor lying in various malkhanas all over the state.

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It would also help in disposing of a bunch of petitions pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking the quashing of the rules for confiscating vehicles used for boot-legging.

The decision came after the ruling HVP-BJP alliance faced a debacle in the recent Parliamentary Elections, showing the resentment of the public against prohibition. This forced the ruling alliance to lift prohibition in the state, which was implemented from July 1, 1996 after the HVP-BJP alliance came to power in the state.

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