The Bihar Opposition today came out against the stringent provision of imprisoning all adult members of a family in case of recovery of liquor from a house at the all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on prohibition.
The CM, who chaired the meeting, heard patiently the suggestions and objections raised by the leaders.
A total of 15 out of 22 representatives of various political parties spoke at the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs minister Shrwan Kumar told reporters.
RJD leader and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, RJD leader and Finance Minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Congress chief and state Education Minister Ashok Choudhary, BJP leaders Prem Kumar and Mangal Pandey, former chief minister and HAM(S) president Jitan Ram Manjhi, LJP MLA Raju Tiwari, CPI MLC Kedar Pandey and others attended the meeting.
Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, Director General of Police P K Thakur and Registration, Excise and Prohibition Department's Principal Secretary Amir Subhani were present along with Principal Additional Advocate General Lalit Kishore.
After holding the 'Lok Samvad' with 40 representatives from different walks of lives, the CM had convened the all-party meeting on prohibition.
The CM said the meeting was called as the Opposition had often termed the liquor law as "draconian" and "Talibani", so he wished to hear their suggestions on how to make the law "non-draconian" and "non-Talibani".
Speaking at the meeting, the CM said, "If we all remain united it would give strength to the campaign (prohibition). Difference of opinion would boost wrongdoers."
According to an official statement, the CM said many suggestions were put forward in the meeting.
"The government would take legal opinion on suggestions made at the all-party meeting and also at Lok Samvad. The proposal would be brought to the House," he said.
The two Houses of Bihar Legislature is all set to hold the Winter session from November 25.
After hearing different opinions on the issue, Kumar said
that all parties were in favour of prohibition.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shrawan Kumar told reporters that the provision of putting all adults of a family behind bars if a liquor bottle was found from the premises, was debated in the meeting.
BJP, the principal opposition party, has been in support of the liquor law from day one but it was opposed to some of the draconian and 'Talibani' provisions of the law, its state unit chief Mangal Pandey told reporters.
The party raised serious objections on imposition of collective fine, Pandey said while suggesting that action must be taken against the erring person, but the entire village cannot be held guilty for the fault committed by some.
Similarly, the quantum of punishment must be in conformity with the crime, he said, adding that liquor law has provisions which are even harsher than the crime for murder and rape.
Sending entire family to the jail in the event of recovery of an empty bottle besides seizure of the premises are also harsher provisions which must be done away with, Pandey said.
On exporting liquor to other states, he wondered "on the one hand, there is prohibition, but on the other, 13 beer and wine factories are running in Bihar."
"CM assured that the government would bring appropriate amendments after taking legal opinion in this regard in the next session (winter) of the Assembly. Let us see what amendments the government brings in," Pandey said.
The BJP leader, however, claimed that the government was preparing to defend itself in the Supreme Court by bringing amendments to the existing law in order to avoid any kind of embarrassment in the apex court.
In the amendments, the state government has challenged the old liquor law by having more and stringent penal provisions, which was rejected by the Patna High Court.
