By PTI
PATNA: Close to 60,000 people were arrested across dry Bihar in the first half of the current calendar year for flouting the state’s stringent prohibition law, police said here on Wednesday.
According to data released by the police headquarters, the period also saw seizure of over 16 lakh litres of countrymade and foreign liquor while more than 7,000 vehicles carrying alcohol were impounded.
Altogether 59,015 people were arrested between January and June for violating the ban on sale and consumption of liquor.
Nearly 10 per cent of the arrests (5,642) took place in Patna district alone which also accounted for the largest amount (1.56 lakh litres) of liquor seized.
The total seized quantity across all 38 districts stood at 9.75 lakh litres for foreign liquor and 6.90 lakh litres for countrymade (desi).
Cars, trucks and buses wherein occupants are found to be in possession of alcohol are seized under the law, a provision often alleged to be draconian.
The total number of vehicles seized during the period was 7,105.
Prohibition was imposed on the state in April 2016 by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who had made an electoral promise to effect to Bihar’s women in the assembly polls held the year before.
A populist measure of which even political opponents baulk at seeking a rollback, prohibition comes under severe criticism for its lopsided implementation, which has been evident from frequent hooch tragedies.
Hooch deaths in the recent past evoked knee-jerk reactions like the police carrying out search operations at marriage venues and rummaging through brides’ trousseaux.
Besides, the seasoned chief minister has been making pleas for public shaming of prohibition violators and ordering visitors not to come to Bihar if they found the law inconvenient.
Police in the state has of late been provided with helicopters, motor boats and drones for nabbing bootleggers.
