BSH NEWS
BSH NEWS A person caught drinking alcohol can avoid jail time under a new condition as per an order issued by the Bihar government.
A person caught drinking alcohol can avoid jail time under a new condition as per an order issued by the Bihar government. (Representational pic)
The Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar has announced that people caught drinking alcohol will not be jailed.
As per the latest order issued by the state government, the police will not send those drinking alcohol to jail. Instead, the offenders would be asked to cough up information on the liquor mafia.
If the police succeed in making arrests based on the information provided, then the offenders will be spared from jail time.
The decision was taken in a meeting on Monday. Both the police and the Prohibition Department have been given the authority to execute the order.
Deputy Commissioner, Excise, Krishna Kumar, told reporters that “relaxation” was being introduced with a view to tighten the noose on the network of smugglers and peddlers.
“Now, if a person is caught drunk he will be asked about the place and persons who made alcohol available to him. A raid would be conducted on the basis of the tip-off and if the information is found correct, the informant will not be jailed”, he said.
The sale and consumption of alcohol were completely banned by the Nitish Kumar government in April 2016, a year after the Chief Minister made a promise to the effect to women of the state who complained about growing drunkenness.
Implementation of the prohibition law, which contains a number of draconian provisions, has been patchy and the state has lost more than 50 lives in hooch tragedies reported since November 2021.
Ham-handed attempts by the police at enforcement, which include arrests of visitors from outside the state and raids on wedding parties, have led to much resentment.
The Chief Minister has been trying to make prohibition effective through didactic public meetings and equipping police personnel involved in the crackdown on violators with high-end resources like helicopters, drones, satellite phones, motorboats, and sniffer dogs.
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