Patna High Court strikes down Bihar prohibition law, calls it illegal

The Bihar government had instituted a tough prohibition law to prevent consumption of liquor in the state.

Patna: The Patna High Court on Friday struck down the Bihar Prohibition of Liquor Act, calling it illegal.

The Bihar government had instituted a tough prohibition law this year to prevent consumption of liquor in the state. Starting April 1 this year, country-made liquor was banned. Then the ban was extended to Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL).

But the Nitish Kumar government went even further and introduced a provision in the law that allows action against all adult members of a family if liquor is found on their premises or one of them is suspected to have consumed it.

Earlier this month, 18 people died in a hooch tragedy in Bihar’s Gopalganj district. However, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar refused to term the tragedy as a ‘failure of prohibition’ saying such incidents have happened in states where there was no ban on liquor.

Listing the virtues of the decision to declare Bihar a complete dry state in April last, Kumar said, "Steps taken by the state government (on alcohol ban) cannot be retreated."

On the loss of about Rs 5,000 crore revenue due to the prohibition, he said, "Around Rs 10,000 crore of the people are saved due to the liquor ban, which will be spent on good things and in turn further enhance the state's GDP."

However, the ban on the sale and consumption of toddy had been lifted by the state government under pressure from JD(U) ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

The Jharkhand wing of the JD(U) had earlier accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of ‘hatching a conspiracy against the liquor ban’ in the state.