Onus on cops if illicit liquor unit found in Punjab: Supreme Court

Satya Prakash

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New Delhi, March 31

The local police shall be held responsible if any illegal “bhatti” (distillery) producing liquor is found in their area in Punjab, the Supreme Court has said.

Matter closed

• Top court closes matter, says no further order is required to be passed
• Over 36K FIRs in 2 years, 13K illegal liquor ‘bhattis’ destroyed, SC told

A Bench led by Justice MR Shah, which had earlier expressed serious concern over illicit liquor and drug menace in the state, directed the Punjab Government to continue with the steps being taken to stop illegal manufacture, transportation and sale of spurious liquor in the state. After considering an affidavit filed by the Punjab Government detailing the measures taken to deal with the menace, the top court closed the matter, saying no further order was required to be passed in the matter even as it said it was the poor who bore the brunt of illicit liquor.

The Bench, which also included Justice CT Ravikumar, took note of the fact that seven FIRs had been filed with respect to three incidents in three districts in which “innocent persons” had died because of consumption of spurious liquor.

In all those cases, the accused had been arrested and chargesheeted and the trial was going on, the Bench noted. On March 27, the top court closed the hearing on a petition filed 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 action would be taken.

Earlier, the Punjab Government had told the top court that over 36,000 FIRs had been registered in the past two years and the state destroyed more than 13,000 illegal liquor “bhattis”.

“If somebody wants to finish the country, particularly from the border state, they will start with the borders. Every extra caution should be taken to save the country. Tell your government to be very serious. They have to make every effort to save the country, it is very easy to ruin the youth,” it had said in December last year.

Referring to the August 2020 hooch tragedy in Punjab in which over 100 people had died owing to consumption of spurious liquor, the petitioners had alleged inaction on the part of the state administration due to which illegal “bhattis” mushroomed in Punjab and the liquor mafia thrived.