On Sunday, the dead toll from the alleged hooch catastrophe in Bihar’s East Champaran district reached 22.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) referred to the occurrence as “mass murder by the Nitish Kumar government” in light of the high death toll.
Only four months have passed since a similar hooch tragedy in the Saran district left dozens of people dead. At the time, Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, faced harsh criticism for his remarks that “those who drink spirits will die” and for losing his composure in front of the state assembly.
Since 2016, when the Nitish-led government enacted Prohibition, alcohol production, sales, and use are prohibited in Bihar. However, reports of deaths caused by the use of illegal alcohol are frequent, raising concerns about the policy and its application.
In the most recent incident, police in East Champaran have detained 80 people. According to a statement, eleven police officers, including a sub-inspector and an assistant sub-inspector, who were in command of the anti-alcohol task forces at the Motihari subdivisions of Areraj and Sadar, respectively, were also suspended on the suspicion of neglecting their duty.
The Bihar Hooch Tragedy: What Do We Know?
According to a statement from the East Champaran district police, 22 persons have allegedly perished so far after consuming illegal alcohol in the Motihari villages of Turkauliya, Harsiddhi, Sugauli, and Paharpur.
At least 29 other patients are fighting for their lives in Sadar and other hospitals in the area. Four individuals’ conditions are thought to be critical, the statement read.
According to the statement, the district administration has suspended 11 police officers on the grounds of neglect of duty, including a sub-inspector and an assistant sub-inspector who were assigned to oversee the anti-alcohol task forces in the Areraj and Sadar sub-divisions of Motihari, respectively.
It stated that the suspended officers included nine “chowkidars” who were assigned to various Motihari areas.
According to a district police senior official, discipline has been taken against these officers for apparent neglect of duty.
The leader of the opposition in the Bihar legislature, Vijay Kumar Sinha, accused the state government of “protecting liquor mafias who are associated with the ruling JD(U) and the RJD.” The BJP calls it “mass murder” and criticises the Nitish government.
According to Sanjay Jaiswal, a former state BJP chairman, the party will contact the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and other relevant federal agencies to launch a “probe into the hooch tragedy”.
BJP officials travelled with a group to a few of the villages in the district where the alleged hooch disaster occurred on Saturday.
“I travelled to Motihari’s Sugauli and Paharpur with the leaders of my party. The majority of deaths occurred in these villages. We discovered that the district administration was concealing the number of people who died as a result of alcohol usage. Police in several locations chose not to file cases because post-mortem examinations could not be completed. The Nitish Kumar administration committed a state-sponsored mass murder, Sinha alleged.
He further said that the state administration and its representatives are “busy in minimising the gravity of the tragedy”.
Even more troubling is the fact that the district authorities are not making an attempt to accurately record and report active occurrences of mortality brought on by alcohol drinking. According to Sinha, the JD(U) and RJD-affiliated liquor mafias are protected by the Nitish Kumar administration.
Leaders of the JD(U) and RJD could not be reached for comment.
The Motihari episode, according to Jaiswal, was “simply a mass murder by the state government,” he added.
“We’ve learned that the impacted families made an effort to keep the police from knowing that their loved ones passed away as a result of consuming fake alcohol. He told reporters in Patna that this was because they were afraid of facing legal repercussions if they reported the incident to the authorities.
I believe drinking alcohol is unhealthy: Nitish
Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, responded to the alleged hooch disaster on Saturday by stating: “I have been insisting that alcohol is terrible and shouldn’t be consumed. I’ve urged authorities to prosecute severely anyone caught breaking the law.
Jaiswal further asserted that Scheduled Castes and OBCs make up the majority of the deceased in Motihari.
“We will want a thorough investigation by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Human Rights Commission. The state administration attempted to conceal figures, according to the findings of the NHRC, which looked into the hooch catastrophe in Saran in December 2022, the BJP representative stated.
In December of last year, there were several fatalities in the Saran hooch catastrophe.
In its findings, the committee refuted the state administration’s allegations that 42 people had died between December 13 and 16, 2013, as a result of consuming illegal alcohol, and instead stated that at least 77 people had perished. The commission also accused the state government of “suppressing toll” and claimed that at least 77 people had perished.
The CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, a close supporter of the Nitish Kumar administration, harshly criticised the administration for what it claimed was police “inaction” in the Motihari tragedy involving suspected hooch.
“Strict action must be taken against the responsible station house officers (SHOs) at the police stations under whose control the alleged alcohol-related deaths occurred. They should be held accountable for the purchase and selling of illegal alcoholic beverages in their local communities, the Left party stated in a statement released in Patna.
The party also claimed compensation for the kin of the incident’s deceased victims.
The seven parties that make up Bihar’s ruling grand alliance—Kumar’s JD (U), the RJD, Congress, CPI(ML) Liberation, CPI, CPI(M), and HAM—have a combined total of more than 160 MLAs in the state’s 243-member legislature.
According to the statement, the East Champaran district police have so far opened five cases in connection with the Motihari disaster that may have been caused by booze.
According to a police statement, 20 people “involved in the illegal trade of spirits” have been detained in Motihari’s Turkauliya, Harsiddhi, Sugauli, and Paharpur.
Additionally, sixty additional persons were detained for “participating in the illegal trade of spirits in the district,” according to the report.
Following searches at more than 600 locations throughout various areas of Motihari over the course of the previous 24 hours, the district police have also confiscated enormous amounts of fake alcohol and other associated compounds.
In addition to 1,150 litres of other chemicals used in the production of fake alcohol, police also recovered 370 litres of country-made spirits, 50 litres of spirit and 370 litres of other chemicals.
Notably, incidences of spirits smuggling are still being recorded from the state despite the continuous campaign against bootleggers.
