Tell source of liquor supply and avoid jail, Bihar tells tipplers

Move comes after over 3 lakh people have been sent to jail for violating the stringent prohibition law

After using drones, copters and satellite phones to locate illegal liquor manufacturing units in dry Bihar, the State government has now decided to provide some relief to tipplers by not sending them to jail if they gave information about the source of their supply and bootleggers.

Joint Secretary of the Prohibition and Excise department Krishna Kumar Singh told media persons on Monday that those caught drunk would not be sent to jail if they provide the source of the liquor supply and the suppliers were arrested. “The order is effective from now”, he said. The State government is said to have taken this decision after a high-level review meeting with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Asked why this decision was taken, Mr. Singh said, “We have already sent 3.50 lakh to 3.74 lakh people to jail and this is a social evil. We can reform them instead of sending to jail. We want to arrest those who have been supplying them [liquor] and getting them drunk”.

Recently, the Bihar government had received flak from the Supreme Court as a huge number of cases related to Excise and Prohibition department have “clogged” the High Court and lower courts.

The Bihar government had deployed helicopters and started using satellite phones and drones to locate illicit liquor manufacturing units, especially in riverine areas from Buxar to Katihar. As many as 23 drones are being used to locate illegal liquor manufacturing units and mafias, Mr. Kumar said recently while undertaking his Samaj Sudhar Abhiyan (social reform campaign) in some districts. The Chief Minister has been highlighting about evils of drinking liquor along with dowry and child marriage in his social reform campaigns.

The State government in November 2021 had said that from January 2021 to October 2021, 49,900 people were arrested under the new stringent prohibition and excise laws while, over 38 lakh litres of illegal liquor was seized during this period. Several policemen and prohibition department officials too have been suspended and departmental action taken against them under the new liquor law. Bihar was declared a dry State in April 2016 under this new law.