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Journalism of Courage
Over the seven years since the enforcement of the liquor ban in Bihar, the prohibition law called Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, has been amended thrice so far, even as it had got a rap from the then Chief Justice of India N V Ramanna in December 2021 for “lack of legislative foresight” in its formulation resulting in clogging of court cases.
This period also saw Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar taking a tough stance on paying compensation to the victims of the hooch tragedies in the dry state.
From declaring in the Assembly in December last year that the government will not give compensation to the families of those who had died after consuming spurious liquor in Saran, to now announcing an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of the deceased in the last week’s hooch tragedy in East Champaran district’s Motihari in which the death toll stood at 26 Monday, prohibition seems to have become an albatross around Nitish’s neck.
Even though rules have been in place since the enforcement of the liquor prohibition about giving Rs 4 lakh compensation to the kin of each hooch tragedy victim, Nitish on Monday highlighted the process of giving such compensation in detail, which was also repeated by state prohibition and excise minister Sunil Kumar.
The Nitish-led Mahagathbandhan government appeared to be keen on projecting its “change of heart” from its previous hard stance of denying compensation in the hooch tragedies despite the rules being in place.
Nitish said, “We have decided to give compensation to next of kin of those who died because of drinking spurious liquor. Most of them are poor. They will have to follow due process to get it”. He, however, did not comment on his previous moves not to give compensation to such victims.
The immediate reason for Nitish’s volte-face on the issue seems to be a perception within the Mahagathbandhan that the stringent prohibition regime might be hurting its core constituency. Over 90 per cent people booked in over 3.75 lakh liquor ban cases registered so far belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs), which form the key support base of not only the JD (U) but also its allies including the RJD, CPI (ML-Liberation), Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular and even the Congress.
The Nitish government had first sought to make a substantive amendment to the prohibition law by making first-time drinking an offence in which an accused can get away by only paying fine of Rs 2,000-Rs 5,000 instead of getting arrested as stipulated earlier.
As this amendment is not applicable from retrospective effect, it still meant that over 3.5 lakh first-time drinkers still face court cases. It is not just the principal Opposition BJP but the Mahagathbandhan’s ally CPI (ML-Liberation), which openly calls for all these cases to be dropped.
Bihar CPI (ML-Liberation) secretary Kunal said:”All these cases should be dropped in bulk. Most of these people are poor and cannot fight court cases. Since first-time drinking is now punishable with fine only, there is every reason for the government to drop the cases in one go.”
A total of 199 official hooch deaths (if suspected hooch deaths are included the toll goes up to 269) have been recorded and 30 cases lodged since 2016, when the liquor prohibition law came into force in Bihar, but not one person has been convicted so far.
Senior BJP leader and ex-deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi Tuesday referred to The Indian Express’ report on the state administration acknowledging at least 199 hooch deaths since 2016, telling reporters: “Now that the realisation of the menace of hooch deaths has dawned on the government, it should immediately release compensation to next of kin of each victim. We also demand dropping of all cases against first-time drinking. It would help declog court cases. Over 25,000 people who are still lodged in jails in liquor cases should be also released”.
Sushil also said there would be at least “500 genuine claimants” for ex gratia compensation related to the hooch deaths. “Let the government revisit its data and compile a fresh one if it really intends to help the families of those who died because of drinking spurious liquor”, he said, adding that the liquor ban law was like”flogging the dead” for Nitish.
As Nitish has now been seeking a larger role for himself in national politics by aiming to become a key player in stitching the Opposition parties together, he does not perhaps want to get embroiled in home truths on “poor enforcement” of the liquor ban law and recurrent hooch deaths in 30 cases so far recorded by the government itself.
A JD (U) leader admitted that “Liquor law is not helping our cause besides resulting in selective women empowerment and people not drinking publicly. Its flip side is very serious as almost one-third of the state police force has to be devoted to its enforcement and quite unsuccessfully. Nitish Kumar would now work towards national plank with other parties against Narendra Modi.”
A month after Justice Ramanna’s scathing criticism of the Bihar prohibition law, the then Nitish-led NDA government amended the law for the third time, diluting its several stringent provisions comprehensively.
