On Wednesday, legislators in Bihar, India, passed the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2022. It would make the alcohol ban less strict for first-time offenders in the state, so it was passed.
The bill comes after the Nitish Kumar government was chastised for the constant increase in cases pending in courts and undertrials in jails.
Under the bill’s new provisions, the state government can punish certain types of crimes with fines instead of jail time.
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According to an ANI report, it also allows the state government to set fines and jail time for people who drink alcohol.
First-time offenders will be punished instead of sent to prison.
After the amendment, it will be up to a duty magistrate to decide how serious the crime is. In this case, the magistrate can just fine the offender and not send him to prison, as he had been told earlier.
People who do not pay their fines could be sent to prison for a month. On the other hand, the government has not said how much the first-time offenders will be fined.
The cars used to sell alcohol would be taken, but they would also be sold later.
Third amendment in the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016
A law called the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, has had its third change. The first change to the act was made in 2018 and then again in 2020.
The Bill wants to change the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, which makes it illegal to drink alcohol and other intoxicating substances in Bihar. This means that the law will not be changed.
The House passed a bill put forward by Prohibition and Excise Minister Sunil Kumar. Opposition members tried to change the bill, but the House rejected them.
He said that “innocent people won’t be harassed, but the guilty ones won’t be let off.”
Ajeet Sharma, a leader of the opposition Congress Legislative Party, has told reporters outside the assembly, “We are not going to give up.” “The new law will make it even stronger for the police and the liquor mafia in the state to work together. The bill was passed without us being able to propose changes.”
The Nitish Kumar government plans to change the law because of the “ineffective implementation” of the law and hooch tragedies in Bihar.
The chief minister has come under fire from both the BJP and the RJD after more than 60 people died in hooch tragedies in the state in the last six months of 2021.
Many people go to jail because they drink alcohol, and most of them are from poorer parts of the country.
The Supreme Court said about Bihar’s liquor law last year. 14-15 Patna High Court Judges only deal with bail requests for people arrested under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act.
