In a first, man gets 10-year jail for selling toddy after liquor ban in Bihar

A court in Motihari awards 10-year jail term besides slapping a fine of Rs 1 lakh to a toddy seller in the first ever conviction under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016.

A court in north Bihar’s East Champaran district has convicted a man found guilty of selling toddy, a banned alcoholic beverage in the state.

The civil court premises at Motihari in Bihar’s East Champaran district. (Madnakar/HT photo)

Special public prosecutor Anil Kumar Singh said the court at Motihari, headquarters of East Champaran district, 153 km north of Patna, sentenced Raza Sahni to undergo 10-year imprisonment after finding him guilty under section 30 (a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016.

This is the first conviction in Bihar for selling the fermented version of palm tree juice since the prohibition law was enforced in the state on April 5, 2016, Singh said.

Additional district and sessions judge Rama Rang Tiwari, who passed the verdict on Saturday, also slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Sahni, a native of Dumarighar village in the district. Sahni was caught with two jerrycans containing 30 litres of toddy near state highway 74 at Bhawanipur in Sangrampur police station area on November 15, 2016.

Lawyer Ranjit Prasad, who assisted Singh in the trial, said Sahni would have to undergo additional jail term of six months if he failed to pay the fine.