'Big money for Babus': Patna HC's scathing observations on prohibition law in Bihar

The law on prohibition on sale and consumption of liquor in Bihar was championed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. (File photo: PTI)

The Patna High Court has come down heavily on the Bihar government's liquor prohibition law and said that it had turned into a tool for government officials to "make big money". The High Court's scathing observations were part of a ruling passed on October 19 and uploaded on November 13.

"The draconian provisions have become handy for the police, who are in tandem with the smugglers,” the Patna HC said, adding that that legislation has "given rise to unauthorised trade of liquor and other contraband items".

The court's ruling came in response to a petition by one Mukesh Kumar Paswan, a Khagaria resident who was suspended as inspector four years ago after a stash of liquor was found in a raid by the state excise department.

Quashing Paswan's suspension and terming it an infringement of natural justice, the High Court said the state government had been unable to properly implement Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 – a law championed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that governs liquor prohibition in the state.

“Innovative ideas to hoodwink law enforcing agencies have evolved to carry and deliver the contraband. Not only the police officials (and) excise officials, but also officers of the state tax department and the transport department love the liquor ban — for them it means big money,” the single-judge bench ruled.

"I find it proper to record here that the Article 47 of the Constitution of India, while (sic) mandating the duty of the state to raise standards of living and to improve the public health at large and as such the state government enacted Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 with the said objective, but for several reasons, it finds itself on the wrong side of the history," the court said.

The court further said that fewer cases are registered against kingpin and syndicate operators in cases of contravention in comparison to the “magnitude of the cases registered against the poor who consume liquor and those poor people and are prey of hooch tragedy”, The Indian Express reported.

The court further noted that it was the daily wagers, who are only earning members of their families, who are facing the wrath of the Act. "The Investigating Officer deliberately does not substantiate the allegations made in the prosecution case by any legal document and such lacunae are left and the same allows the mafia (to get away) scot-free in want of evidence by not conducting search, seizure and investigation in accordance with law,” the court added.