Bihar passes bill to ease prohibition law

The chief minister Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government brought the amendment bill weeks after the Supreme Court expressed its reservation for high pendency of prohibition-related cases in local courts and the Patna high Court.

The Bihar legislative assembly on Wednesday passed an amendment bill that proposes to relax some of the stringent provisions in the state’s prohibition law, including replacing imprisonment with fine for first-time or non-habitual offenders.

On March 10, the apex court had asked the Bihar government to set up designated courts to deal with prohibition-related cases. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2022, was passed without any opposition in the Lower House during the ongoing budget session.

Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s chief whip Lalit Yadav were not present in the House, while Congress leaders suggested, some amendments to the bill, which were rejected.

The chief minister Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government brought the amendment bill weeks after the Supreme Court expressed its reservation for high pendency of prohibition-related cases in local courts and the Patna high Court. On March 10, the apex court had asked the Bihar government to set up designated courts to deal with prohibition-related cases. The bill passed on Wednesday has provisions for the same. The court had also asked the state to do social and legislative assessment of the prohibition law, saying the government was not doing enough to prevent violation of the act.

Moving the bill, Bihar excise minister Sunil Kumar, who was a DG-rank police officer before taking voluntary retirement, said it was brought to further strengthen the law, make it more realistic and save time of the judiciary.

“It is heartening to see that there was no opposition to the bill and the amendments were proposed only on technical ground,” he said. “The response of the masses, especially women, has been very encouraging and it was evident during CM Nitish Kumar’s social reforms yatra recently, which I also attended.”

The minister said the impact of the prohibition law was not confined to Bihar only, but also other states that have been sending teams to study it. “It is the CM’s opinion that for a meaningful and inclusive progress in the society, social reforms are important,” the minister said. “The government has also commissioned a study by the Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) on the social impact of prohibition and the preliminary reports suggest that it has been a huge factor behind women’s empowerment and changed priorities of people. This has given strength to the government to carry on with greater commitment.”

Under the amendment, there is a provision for the 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 one-month simple imprisonment.

The bill, however, does not give the accused right to be set free on payment of fine, as the executive magistrate could deny release on the basis of report by the police or excise officer.

According to the bill, the state government in consultation with the Patna high court will appoint these executive magistrates, who will enjoy the power of second-class judicial magistrates.

The seizure of vehicles, containers or properties in connection with liquor smuggling could also be released on payment of fine prescribed by the state government, failing which the process for their confiscation would be initiated, the bill stated. However, the final call on the release of the seized items will be reserved for the executive magistrate.

“The Bihar government will be able issue necessary directions or guidelines for search, seizure, destruction or confiscation for the process to be followed,” the bill states.

The bill also makes provision for special courts to deal exclusively with liquor-related cases. These courts will be headed either by sessions judge, additional sessions judge, assistant sessions judge or judicial magistrate to be appointed in consultation with the chief justice of the Patna high court. While several districts, including Patna, already have such special courts, the bill makes it mandatory for each district to have at least one special court.

Congress legislators Ajeet Sharma, Sameer Kumar Mahaseth and Ajay Kumar raised reservation on some aspects of the bill, including possibility of police and officers misusing the law.

“The government should first refer the bill to the select committee as otherwise it will keep amending it, while the objective of prohibition remains unfulfilled,” said Congress chief whip Ajeet Sharma. “There is fear police will be more arbitrary in their actions,” said Mahaseth.

The excise minister, however, said adequate checks and balances have been put in place after detailed review and legal vetting.

“Over 230 officials from the police and prohibition & excise department have so far been sacked from service. Let me assure the House that no innocent (person) will be implicated, but no culprit will be spared either,” he said.

The government has been facing continued opposition both within and outside the House over frequent hooch tragedies in the state.

In the last three months, Bihar has witnessed over half a dozen suspected hooch tragedies, though the administration is not always willing to accept it and has blamed it on deaths due to illness. In some cases, post-mortem of the victims could not be performed and the matter was raised in the Bihar assembly last week. Last year too, nearly a dozen incidents had been reported. Home minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav had said in the assembly that hooch tragedies happened before prohibition as well and they also happen in states where there is no prohibition.

The Bihar government under CM Nitish Kumar had imposed total prohibition in Bihar on April 5, 2016, less than six months after coming to power. The CM had made a pre-poll announcement while addressing women of the self-help groups on their request that he would impose prohibition in the state.

The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed the state’s batch of appeals challenging grant of anticipatory and regular bails to accused under the liquor law, saying “the prosecution of the case should be made in all earnestness to secure conviction and punishment”.

As per official data, nearly 25% of the total pendency of cases in lower courts and 20% in the high court pertains to prohibition-related cases. In 2019, alarmed by the growing pendency, the high court had asked the state government to present a plan for how it plans to dispose cases related to excise.

In July last year, the high court had directed that all proceedings related to confiscation of property under the prohibition law must be initiated and concluded within a period of 90 days from the date of appearance of the parties concerned.

Former additional solicitor general SD Sanjay said the amendments, which were necessitated due to repeated observations by the court about the growing pendency of cases, would give relief to first-time offenders. “When the apex court says the courts are getting clogged, it means something. The Chief Justice of India saying describing prohibition law as an example of lack of foresight in drafting legislation did not leave much room for the government and it realised the need for amendment. It will spare the innocents and help in bringing down cases,” he added.

Meanwhile, the assembly also passed the Bihar police (amendment) Bill, necessitated following restructuring of police administration by dividing the state into 12 police zones to make the chain of command more effective and easier. Other bills passed in the Lower House include the Bihar fiscal responsibility and budget management (amendment) Bill 2022, which increases the lending limit for the state to 3.5%, and the Bihar municipality (amendment) Bill 2022, which proposes to change the process for election of mayors and deputy mayors to check the alleged lobbying for the key positions.