In recent days, there has been an increase in reports of the police and Bihar Excise Department officials abusing the new prohibition law in the State to harass people and extort money from them.
A doctor in Bihar’s Bhojpur district and a compounder were arrested on Saturday on alleged trumped-up charges of breaking the new Excise Act that made Bihar a dry State from April.
Dr. Shatrughan Prasad and compounder Anil Prasad, it has come to light, reportedly honked the horn of the car they were travelling in to overtake the vehicle of Ara sub-divisional officer (SDO). Apparently upset by the constant honking, the SDO called the police and got them arrested for being drunk.
The doctors who were part of the medical board constituted to examine the two, however, reported that “when the duo were presented before the medical team they were in their senses and well-oriented.”
In a similar incident on May 18, the police and State Excise Department officials detained three businessmen from Punjab’s Hoshiyarpur district who were on their way to Calcutta. They were stopped at a check post on National Highway 2 in Kaimur district and the officials allegedly planted two liquor bottles in their car — a non-bailable offence that carries a 10-year prison sentence — and, the businessmen alleged, let them go after extorting Rs. 50,000. When the three said they did not have that much cash on them, the policemen reportedly made them withdraw money from a nearby ATM.
FIR filed
One of the businessmen, Satnam Singh, later complained to the district Superintendent of Police Harpreet Kaur, who took immediate action after conducting preliminary inquiry. An FIR was filed against the errant officials. “Altogether three persons, including one excise department employee and two SAP [Special Auxiliary Personnel] jawans have been sent to jail and five others are absconding in this case…we’re conducting raids and they too be will be nabbed soon,” Ms. Kaur told The Hindu .
With the next general election in mind, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is determined to turn prohibition into a national issue, calling it a “silent social movement.” Seven businessmen from Gujarat, who claimed they were unaware of prohibition in the State, were arrested from a posh hotel here on April 27 after being caught consuming alcohol in their room. They were let go on bail after spending two weeks in jail.
Not only common people, a politician too bore the brunt of the new law. The Excise Department filed two FIRs against Congress MLA Vinay Verma after being caught on camera saying he had stocked away good quality liquor in his house. Mr. Verma, a teetotaller, went on the lam for over a week. The police and Excise officials, however, did not find a single liquor bottle in his house. The MLA later applied for bail from the Patna High Court. “I was trapped into a casual conversation, but I had never made any offer to drink liquor at home... I’m now mulling over the option of filing a defamation suit,” he said.
