In Nitish’s Bihar, Your Family May Pay the Price If You Drink!

The Bihar Excise (Amendment) Act will, however, exempt toddy, Excise & Prohibition Minister Abdul Jalil Mastan said.

Representational image. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s government is trying to make the prohibition of liquor in the state as stringent as it possibly can. Under the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Act, 2016, tabled in the state Assembly on Friday, he has suggested culpability for not just the person possessing liquor, but also the family members of the person. The family will face the punishment in addition to losing the house to the government, reports The Indian Express.

In case of repeated cases from a region, the said town or village will have to collectively pay a fine to the District Collector.

The bill has drawn a sharp reaction form the opposition – the Bharatiya Janata PArty (BJP) – member, Sushil Kumar Modi.

Toddy Not Under Excise Amendments

Excise and Prohibition Minister Abdul Jalil Mastan had told the media that toddy will be kept out of the purview of the proposed excise bill.

Modi took a shot at Kumar by saying that his government has made a U-turn by keeping toddy out of the purview of the amendments to the excise bill.

Nitish is so drunk in power that he thinks nobody can bend him, but the BJP, LJP supremo Ramvilas Paswan, Hindustani Awam Party Morcha president Jitan Ram Manjhi and RJD chief Lalu Prasad have applied enough pressure on the Chief Minister to force him to make U-turn on toddy ban. 

Sushil Kumar Modi, BJP Member

Toddy extraction and sale is viewed as a livelihood issue within a section of the dalit community.

Former deputy chief minister Modi asked what would happen if someone throws an empty liquor bottle at Rastriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s residence? Will he and his family be put behind bars?

Is it fair to punish a wife and aged parents, if an adult member commits crime like keeping a liquor bottle in the household? Does not the stringent law lead Bihar to ancient times? 

Sushil Kumar Modi, BJP Member

(With inputs from PTI and The Indian Express)