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Thousands of liters of poisonous liquor destroyed in Bihar’s Saran
Expressing grave concern over the alleged spurious liquor tragedy, the Commission has written to the State Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP)Director General of police), calling for log within six weeks in case
“The report should include the status of the FIR lodged by the police, the medical treatment of the victims admitted to the hospital and the compensation paid to the families of the victims,” the commission, in its notice to the state’s top bureaucrats, said.
The Commission would also like to know about the action taken against the erring officials responsible for the tragedy.
“The Commission also observes on the basis of the contents of the media report, if true, that the State Government, prima facie, has not taken adequate care in the implementation of its policy to ban the sale and consumption of illicit/spurious liquor Bihar since April, 2016. Liquor tragedy incidents of this magnitude going unabated is a serious issue, leading to violation of the rights to life of the vulnerable,” Jamini Kumar Srivastava, Deputy Director (Media & Communication) of the Commission said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
“It may be recalled that in December 2022 also, several deaths were reported in a poisoning tragedy in Bihar, and the Commission after taking suo motu cognizance of media reports sent its team to investigate the matter.
That matter is already under consideration of the Commission,” the NHRC said.
A total of 31 people died in East Champaran district till Tuesday after drinking spurious liquor.
Police said five cases have been registered so far and 174 people have been arrested as part of the probe into the matter.
Station House Officers (SHOs) of Turkaulia, Harsiddhi, Sugauli, Raghunathpur and Paharpur police stations in East Champaran have been suspended on charges of ‘dereliction of duty’. State government official said.