Patna: Hindustani Awam Morcha (HWM) patron and former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has supported prohibition in the state, but said there were some loopholes in its implementation. Manjhi was speaking to the media during his visit to Delhi for the National Executive meeting of his party on Tuesday.
“Prohibition is not bad, but there is a glitch in the process of implementing it. Be it Bihar or Gujarat. Big liquor smugglers are getting away and poor people are getting caught,” Manjhi said. He urged the Bihar government to review the prohibition law. Manjhi said that the police are investigatinmg people by using a breath analyzer, “which at times shows wrong results due to which innocent people are also caught”.
Manjhi's comment came at a time when the Patna High Court too in September last reprimanded the Bihar government over the alleged improper implementation of prohibition in the state which has led to a deluge of cases in courts.
Also read: Bihar: HC censures govt for improper implementation of liquor prohibition law
The court went so far as to say that the officers "do not use their brains in implementing the prohibition law". The court passed the judgment while underlining an overwhelming number of cases arising out of prohibition law. Since the Bihar government started implementing the prohibition law in 2016, cases have been piling up in the courts of various districts of Bihar including Patna High Court.
Earlier, Supreme Court also pulled up the Nitish Kumar-led government over the overwhelming litigations relating to the 2016 liquor prohibition law. The Bihar Prohibition Act of 2016 prohibits the sale, drinking, and brewing of alcohol and initially provided for attachment of property and up to life imprisonment.
Although an amendment in 2018 relaxed the sentence, more than 3 lakh cases related to violation of prohibition law had been registered as of February this year, according to the data of Bihar Police Headquarters. Even the apex court had asked the Bihar government whether all aspects were studied while enacting the law and what concrete steps were taken to increase the number of judges and courts to deal with the cases in the state.
