Facing flak over liquor ban from the Supreme Court,  the Nitish Kumar Government on Wednesday passed “The Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2022”, allowing first-time offenders to be let off after they pay penalty prescribed by the State Government. If they don’t pay, they will be jailed for a month.

In case of repeat offenders, the State Government may prescribe additional fines or imprisonment, or both. As per the Bill, for the offences related to consumption of liquor, the State Government is empowered to notify the fine for first-time offenders.

Incidentally, the amended law doesn’t differentiate between first-time and repeat-offenders, as there is no system to find out how many times a person has violated the law.

As per the data shared by the Government in the State Assembly, from 2018 to 2020, over 45,000 FIRs were registered under the Act every year. Further, during this period, the number of cases pending trial before courts almost quadrupled.  More than 40,000 people were arrested under the Act each year from 2018 to 2020. The data showed that 31,053 cases were pending for trial in 2018; 77822 cases in 2019; and 1,14,057 cases in 2020. The Act was amended in 2018 to make certain penalties less stringent.

According to the Bill, when an offender held by police is required to reveal the name of the person from whom the liquor was received, also a first-time offender is fined a minimum Rs 50,000 or 3 months imprisonment in lieu of fine. 

Repeat offenders are punishable with fines up to one lakh rupees, and imprisonment ranging from one to five years.  The other two offences may be punished with a fine of one lakh rupees to five lakh rupees, and five to 10 years of imprisonment. 

The Bill only penalises persons who consume any intoxicant or are found drunk or under the influence of an intoxicant.  These offences are punishable with: (i) a fine in the first instance, and one-month imprisonment in case of failure to pay fines, and (ii) additional fine or imprisonment, or both, in case of repeat offences. 

The Bill provides that persons consuming liquor, or found drunk or under the influence of intoxicants, will be arrested and produced before the nearest Executive Magistrate.  The Magistrate will conduct a summary trial of these offences. 

In February 2022, the Supreme Court observed that trial courts in Bihar and the Patna High Court are being crowded by bail applications in matters under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016. It highlighted that at one stage, 16 judges of Patna High Court were listening to bail matters, of which a large part consisted of prosecutions under the 2016 Act. 

It inquired from the Bihar Government if any assessment was done regarding the court infrastructure and manpower required to deal with the volume of cases that may arise under the Act. 

In March 2022, the Bihar Government informed the court that it is proposing certain amendments to the Act to make it more efficacious and address the concerns raised relating to its implementation