Bihar Assembly passes amendment Bill on liquor ban to make prohibition law less stringent

Patna: The Bihar Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which seeks to make the liquor ban less stringent for first-time offenders in the state. The bill comes after the criticism of the Nitish Kumar government over the continuous increase in the number of cases pending in courts and undertrials in jails. 

Under the new provisions of the bill, the state government is empowered to impose penalties for certain categories of offences instead of direct imprisonment. It also permits the state government to prescribe fines, and imprisonment (in case of repeat offenders) for the consumption of liquor, said an ANI report.

First-time offenders will be penalised instead of imprisonment

After the amendment, the offender will be presented before a duty magistrate, which will decide the seriousness of the offence. After going through the circumstances, the magistrate can just impose a fine on the offender instead direct imprisonment, as prescribed earlier. 

If the offender fails to pay the penalty then he/she will be liable to face a one-month jail term. The government, however, has not divulged the amount of the fine to be imposed on first-time offenders. 

Notably, the vehicles used for the liquor trade would also be confiscated and will be later auctioned.

Third amendment in the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 

This is the third amendment in the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016. The first amendment to the act was brought in 2018 and then subsequently in 2020. The Bill seeks to amend the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 which enforces the complete prohibition of liquor and intoxicants in Bihar. 

The House passed the bill, tabled by Prohibition and Excise Minister Sunil Kumar, after rejecting several amendment proposals moved by opposition members.

Introducing the bill, the minister is quoted by PTI as saying, "Innocent persons will not be harassed, while the guilty ones will not be spared."

Talking to reporters outside the assembly, opposition Congress Legislative Party leader Ajeet Sharma reportedly said, "The amended law will further strengthen the nexus between the police and liquor mafia in the state. The bill was passed without accepting amendment proposals moved by us."

The Nitish Kumar government has been reportedly planning to amend the prohibition law amid allegations of "ineffective implementation" of the legislation and hooch tragedies in Bihar.

The chief minister has come under attack from both alliance partner BJP and opposition RJD following hooch tragedies in the state that claimed more than 60 lives in the last six months of 2021.

A large number of people are in jail only for liquor consumption and the majority of them belong to economically weaker sections of society.

Last year, the Supreme Court had remarked that the liquor law was impacting the functioning of the judiciary in Bihar with 14-15 Patna High Court Judges only hearing the bail pleas relating to arrests made under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act. 

(With Agency Inputs)