I'm glad Patna High Court quashed Bihar's harsh anti-liquor law

The Patna High Court's decision to strike down the Bihar government's Prohibition of Liquor Act is a welcome move and should have come earlier. 

While I am a teetotaller, I firmly believe the state has no business deciding what an individual should eat or drink.

State chief minister Nitish Kumar's decision to impose a ban on alcohol may have been well-intentioned, but in affect it impinged on the right and liberty of the people of the state to choose their liquid intake, and therefore needed to go.

Kumar's decision, if allowed to continue, would have set the wrong precedent. A ban on individual choices - whether in relation to dress, food, drinks, beliefs, music, etc - which are an intrinsic right in the country, militates against free choice.

The CM is not the sole votary of prohibition. There has been a prohibition on the sale and consumption of liquor in Gujarat for decades. Yet, it hasn't managed to completely stop let alone prevent the consumption of liquor in the state. What prohibition has done is that it has incentivised the undercover sale of alcohol.

Kumar genuinely believes that prohibiting the sale and consumption of liquor in his state will go a long way in putting an end to violence against women.

The move certainly has overwhelming support from women and even a section of men in Bihar. It was one of the main talking points during his campaign in the last assembly elections, and he can even argue that it was a part of the mandate that he won from the people. 

Kumar so strongly believed in the correctness of his position on prohibition that he chose to go ahead and implement his promise despite opposition from his ally, the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD. His decision has also meant loss of revenue for Bihar, but the CM went ahead with his idea almost with a messianic zeal.

The Bihar Prohibition and Excise Bill 2016 gives the state unprecedented as well as harsh powers to arrest violators. It calls for the arrest of all members of a family if a liquor bottle is found in the house.

Contravention of the law is a non-bailable offence, where only courts can grant bail and not police stations. If the Bill was to come into effect, only special courts will have the authority to try cases related to violation of the prohibition law.

Also read: No one wants prohibition in Bihar, except Nitish Kumar