Our Bureau/

The death toll due to poisonous liquor in eastern Bihar district during Holi could have been averted if the state machineries had equally enforced liquor prohibition strictly and technically cracking down on cross border liquor smuggling.

Even the Supreme court of India recently passed a harsh comment on the booze ban at Bihar, the state machineries still functioning in a pattern of an old proverb : ‘run with the hare and hunt with the hound’.

State machineries from state headquarters to a remote village in the state have been largely busy since the enforcement of Bihar prohibition and excise law (commonly known as liquor ban act). Even the Supreme Court of India had to dismiss Bihar govt.’s batch of appeals challenging grant of anticipatory and regular bails saying these matters have chocked courts and 14-15 Patna High court judges hearing these cases only.

Since after the booze ban act implemented in the state, police in most of the districts in Bihar have been devised a new game of seizing liquors. There was virtual a competition among the districts police  to show maximum of recovery of alcohol and subsequently the arresting of people for violating the act.

“We all remain busy with bailing out persons made accused in violation of the acts. Initially it was a herculean task to get bail for an accused in this case but gradually the law reduced in the course of time. But what I observed the state machinery mainly the police, put much focus mainly on two objects; one to recover liquor and second is to arrest the law barkers,” said Raj Kumar, a lawyer at Bhagalpur Bar Association.

“But what I observed the police hardly bothered to probe technically the liquor consignments which they recovered. Hardly there was any instant when police approached the stockiest outside Bihar after verifying the batch numbers mentioned on the seized liquor bottles. It could have been easy for the police to ascertain to locate the smugglers as well as to detect the supply chain of smuggled alcohols. Had the police ever conducted any lab examination of the seized boozes?,” Raj Kumar asked.

He further alleged that after complete liquor ban in Bihar, many living like in the bordering parts of eastern Bihar districts, ie, the districts of Santhal Parganas division in Jharkhand have adopted the business of either cross border smuggling of liquors or started illegal bottling of the foreign liquors.

It’s to be mentioned here that places like Dumka, Godda, Sahebganj in Jharkhand has turned heavens not only for the liquor smugglers but also for thriving illicit liquor bottling plants. “Illicit liquors are virtually more dangerous than poisons, it is very fatal for human beings, not only death, it could gift multi organ failures and also lost of eye sights,” said Ravi Kumar a forensic expert.

On March 20, after the news of suspected deaths due to consumption of toxic alcohols was came to light, a WhatsApp group of a police station in Bhagalpur district mentioned two low qualities of foreign liquors and apprehended the two as to be poisonous. Though the post was deleted shortly but the question raised how the post of the cops’ of a police station detected the liquors  as toxics? Did the cops conduct any lab texts?

Why the police didn’t make it mandatory for lab testing of such illicit liquors soon after recovery instead of depositing it for final disposal? If such lab testing had been arranged, the police could have been more vigilant then before, which could avert such mishap.

Bhagalpur police also woke up from its slumber, senior superintendent of police in a mass appeal urged the people to make the liquor ban law success in practice. He said the police has all set to initiate  a mass movement against liquor and sought public support. Sector wise both in city areas and in rural areas committees would be established consisting police and local residents to accelerate the movement against liquor.

But the question in district like Bhagalpur which has already had many bad records of yesteryears like the ‘Pahara Samity’ (groups for night watch) after the infamous Bhagalpur communal carnage of 1989, there were many controversies. “Who is the appropriate persons for such groups, is the question as we had bitter experiences for promoting many people having wrong intentions who later shown their vested interests instead of dedicating for the object,” alleged a social worker on condition of anonymity here.

“A new parallel system has been erected here, the system of huge income from liquor smuggling and from extracting sands from river beds. Top to bottom has been involved in such lucrative business. So how one expect such scientific and technical approaches to be implicated for countering liquor here?” asked a retired government employee, Randir Kumar.