Nitish govt to introduce Bihar Liquor Prohibition Bill in Assembly

Facing criticism over the liquor ban, the Nitish Kumar government has decided to introduce the Bihar Liquor Prohibition Bill 2022 in the state Assembly on Wednesday.

Under the amendment, there is a provision for first time offenders to get bail from the duty magistrate after depositing a fine. In case the offender is not able to deposit the fine, he/she is liable to face a one month jail.

There is also a provision that when an offender is nabbed by the police for the ban violation, the accused has to disclose the name of the person from whom liquor was obtained.

The Nitish Kumar government seeks to pass the Bill in the Vidhan Sabha smoothly and has distributed the copies of the amendment Bill to every MLA to read it.

The Bihar Chief Minister imposed a liquor ban in April 2016 in the state through the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act. Since the ban, a large number of people have been lodged in Bihar jails for liquor consumption. A majority of the violators belong to economically weaker sections and are poor people. Even the hearing for bail in these simple cases takes over a one year time in the courts.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana had said last year that decisions like liquor ban of the Bihar government have put huge burden on courts. "There are three lakh cases pending in the courts. People are waiting for justice for a long time and now the excessive cases related to liquor violations put an additional burden on courts," the CJI had said.