SC cautions Punjab against Bihar-type hooch tragedies; state says it has implemented court’s directions

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, December 15

The Supreme Court on Thursday cautioned the Punjab Government against Bihar-type hooch tragedies even as the latter asserted that it has already implemented all the directions issued by the court to check manufacture and sale of illicit liquor in the state.

“Have you seen Bihar today? This is exactly what we want to avoid,” a Bench led by Justice MR Shah told the Punjab Government referring to the hooch tragedy in Saran district of Bihar which has claimed 39 lives.

Expressing serious concern over illicit liquor and drug menace in Punjab, the Supreme Court had on December 5 asked the state government to fix responsibility on the local police for failing lapses on their part and spell out specific steps taken to curb the production and sale of spurious liquor.

On Thursday, the Punjab Government submitted that it has already taken steps in the right direction because of the top court’s indulgence.

“We have implemented all the directions issued by this court, including issuing a circular holding local police accountable if illegal ‘bhattis’ are found. We have conducted awareness campaigns, appointed informers who will be rewarded,” the state government counsel told the Bench.

The Punjab government said an Inspector General rank police officer has been nominated at the state level to monitor investigation of cases registered under the Punjab Excise Act, 1914.

On behalf of the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan alleged that the probe was not in the right direction. “The primary concern is that only low-level persons are being arrested. The people actually manufacturing and supplying the liquor are escaping the police scanner… There is no effort to find out where this liquor was procured from, or where it was manufactured,” Bhushan told the Bench.

Noting that it would monitor the progress of the case, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing on February 10.

The top court was hearing a petition against a September 2020 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court disposing of a petition seeking transfer of some FIRs registered in Punjab with regard to alleged sale and inter-state smuggling of spurious liquor to the CBI. The high court had disposed of the petition after the state assured that the petitioners’ concerns would be duly addressed and suitable actions would be taken.

The petitioners had referred to the August 2020 hooch tragedy in Punjab in which over 100 people had died owing to consumption of spurious liquor. They had alleged that illegal ‘bhattis’ mushroomed in Punjab and liquor mafia thrived.

In a detailed affidavit, the Department of Excise and Taxation of Punjab Government said it has been regularly carrying out massive enforcement drives against manufacture and use of illicit homemade liquor and additional long-term measures such as filling up all vacant posts in the state excise force will be taken soon.

It said the campaign against illicit distillation of liquor will be started by spreading awareness regarding ill-effects of homemade illicit liquor by using means, including popularising the department’s already existing reward scheme so that more and more informers come to share the information regarding such manufacturing and sale.

“Awareness through local print and electronic media including cable TV will be started on war footing level. Wherever necessary, social media will also be used for the purpose,” the affidavit stated.

The affidavit said as the department has already carried out some trials for use of sniffer dogs for excise enforcement purposes, it will strive hard to raise two sniffer dogs per zone (Patiala, Ferozepur and Jalandhar) in near future for better enforcement results in illicit prone areas.

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