With the Nitish Kumar cabinet, on March 8, approving the proposed amendments to the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, the new focus of prohibition in the state appears to be on giving a second chance to violators rather than punishing them straightaway. According to the proposed amendments, those caught for the first time with alcohol will pay a fine instead of being arrested. Though the penalty amount has yet to be revealed, sources in the government put it as “reasonable”. The amendments are expected to be ratified by the state assembly in its ongoing session.
Police and excise officials, according to the amendments, may even be empowered to consider relaxation (including waiver of fine) if violators identify the source of liquor purchase. The relaxation seems to sync with Nitish’s social campaign, under which the chief minister has been touring the state to propagate his idea of reforms rather than punishment.
A top official in the chief minister’s secretariat said Nitish feels that the people of Bihar have responded positively to the liquor ban imposed in the state in April 2016. The prohibition law bans the manufacture, trade, sale and consumption of liquor in the state. “At the time the chief minister ordered prohibition, about 29 per cent of Bihar’s population consumed liquor. The NFHS (National Family Health Survey) survey 2019-20 found the number of alcohol consumers in the state to have declined to 15.5 per cent. If we plot this number against Bihar’s population, it means almost 17 million people have quit alcohol since prohibition came into effect,” the official said.
When Nitish first took over as Bihar CM for a full term in November 2005, the NFHS survey (2005-06) said about 35 per cent of men and 1 per cent of women consumed alcohol. Indeed, by 2019-20, a significant number of alcohol consumers in the state had kicked the habit. While Bihar has done well to curb liquor consumption, the aim now is to incentivise more people by giving them a chance to self-reform. This includes those caught carrying alcohol in lesser quantities in smaller non-commercial vehicles.
The velvet gloves, though, are not without iron hands. The proposed amendments are likely to have a new clause to define bootlegging as ‘organised crime’. The proposed amendments, as and when ratified by the state assembly, are likely to focus on action against liquor traders and smugglers, with a provision to attach their assets at the trial stage. While big commercial vehicles used for liquor trade would be confiscated and auctioned, the smaller vehicles can be let off with a fine.
Not imprisoning first-time offenders, officials argue, will also reduce the burden on the state’s overcrowded prisons. As on February 28, Bihar’s 59 jails had 66,084 inmates against the total capacity of 47,750. Since coming into effect, 350,000 cases have been filed under the prohibition law, over 400,000 arrests made and 16.3 million liquor bottles seized. Now, after the amendments, all prohibition related offences currently under trial can be disposed of through summary trial by an executive magistrate, not below the rank of deputy collector. The move is likely to help de-clog jails and reduce the pressure on the lower courts.
