True of Gujarat too: Patna HC says, Bihar's liquor ban led to illegal liquor trade; cops, officials love it

By Rajiv Shah

A recent Patna High Court judgment on alcohol ban in Bihar can as well be applied to Gujarat. As reported by a legal news portal, under the title "State's Alcohol Ban Led To Illegal Liquor Trade; Police, Excise, Tax, Transport Dept Officials Love The Ban As It Means Big Money: Patna HC", the story by Malavika Prasad says that while quashing the penalty of demotion imposed on an inspector on the ground that he had been negligent in implementing the excise prohibition law, the Patna High Court observed that though the law was passed with the objective of improving public health, "for several reasons, it finds itself on the wrong side of the history".

Interestingly, one would only need to replace Bihar with Gujarat when the story says this: The court observed that the prohibition law in the State has, in fact, given rise to unauthorized trade of liquor and other contraband items, and that the police, excise, tax and transport department officials "love" the liquor ban as for them it "means big money". Isn't the same true for Gujarat?

The story quotes Justice Purnendu Singh's October 29 order which says, I quote, "The Article 47 of the Constitution of India while mandating the duty of the State to raise standards of living and to improve the public health at large and as such 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."

He added, "The prohibition has, in fact, given rise to unauthorized trade of liquor and other contraband items. The draconian provisions have become handy for the police, who are in tandem with the, smugglers. Innovative ideas to hoodwink law enforcing agency have evolved to carry and deliver the contraband. Not only the police official, excise official, but also officers of the State Tax department and the transport department love liquor ban, for them it means big money".

The court further observed that that the number of registered cases against the king pin/syndicate operators are "few" in comparison to the "magnitude" of cases registered against the "poor who consume liquor and those poor people and are prey of hooch tragedy", emphasizing that the life of the majority of the poor section of the State who are facing wrath of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act are "daily wagers who are only earning member of their family".

Surely, what's true of Bihar is also true for Gujarat. There have been large number of hooch tragedies in which the poor who consume illicit liquor have died. Despite the fact that the Gujarat government has progressively gone ahead with making the law strict, with strong punishment for those producing illicit liquor, I am personally witness to how in Ahmedabad's Khanpur vegetable market a woman sitting on the street with a box to sell tobacco, cigarette, bidi, paan masala etc. also sold liquor pouches. Individuals knew this woman, and she would just give away pouches from within the box quietly as and when they would approach her. I couldn't believe my eyes -- all this was happening as we were buying vegetables!

While I have never done it, as I don't drink, those who do tell me the spots from where one could buy "any brand". You just need to stop your vehicle at that stop, and someone would come asking what brand is needed. Is it authentic, I would query, and the answer would be, "It would seem so... And surely much, much cheaper than the liquor available in the designated shops that are allowed to sell it only to license holders." In fact, there is no dearth of people who say, you can get the delivery at home -- it's all a phone call away, and in less than an hour!

Recently, the Gujarat government declared the GIFT City area off Gandhinagar -- promoted as a prestige finance-IT hub project by Narendra Modi -- as prohibition free. I was talking to a person who is a license holder whether he would now buy liquor there, and the answer was, "No way ... It's very very costly! I wouldn't go there to buy a bottle there ever!"

Then there is another racket: The shops in army cantonment area in Ahmedabad are said to sell duty free liquor to army personnel. There are people who seek to befriend with such service personnel and "buy" the desired brand, fully authentic, from them -- at a price advantageous to both sides...

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