NHRC report: Saran hooch toll at least 77, Bihar tried to hide figures
The report, which has been uploaded on the NHRC website, dismisses claims of the state government that 42 people had died in the tragedy on December 13-16 last year and says at least 77 lives were lost, while blaming the state authorities for “suppressing toll”.
A 13-member team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team, which probed the hooch tragedy in Saran and Siwan districts of Bihar in December 2022, has observed in its report that “deaths due to consumption of spurious liquor have become part of the law and order landscape of Bihar ever since prohibition was enforced in the state in the year 2016”.
The report, which has been uploaded on the NHRC website, dismisses claims of the state government that 42 people had died in the tragedy on December 13-16 last year and says at least 77 lives were lost, while blaming the state authorities for “suppressing toll”.
The particular hooch tragedy had led to an outrage in the state and the Opposition BJP had demanded a review of prohibition due to its failed implementation in its aftermath.
The NHRC report also raises serious questions on the treatment protocol for hooch tragedy victims. “Despite the passage of more than six years (of liquor prohibition), there is still an absence of treatment protocol and lack of preparedness on the part of health administration to deal with incidents in which large number of persons die due to consumption of liquor. Besides, despite prohibition, the state has not been able to stop the sale of spurious and illicit liquor, which has cost huge loss of human lives for which it cannot escape its responsibility,” the report says.
It says the NHRC had taken cognisance of a report published in Hindustan Times, dated December 15, which clearly mentioned that “the toll is likely to rise as some of the victims are in a critical condition”.
The report by the 13-member team, headed by Rajiv Jain, says that in addition to the deaths, seven persons had lost their eyesight in the hooch tragedy.
“Nearly 80% of the deceased were in the productive working age of 21-60 years and 75% of them were scheduled castes and OBCs. The liquor, which caused this human tragedy, seems to have originated from a common source and all the victims hailed from a compact geographical area around the jurisdiction of Masrakh police station,” it adds.
‘Administration suppressed casualty figures’
Terming it a flagrant violation of human rights due to abject failure of public servants, “warranting immediate and urgent steps to protect the lives of the poor gullible people by preventing them from consuming illicit and spurious liquor”, the report has accused the state government and the Saran district administration of suppressing the casualty figures and minimising the extent of tragedy by “not registering or recognising such deaths that were caused by spurious liquor by not conducting post mortem examination or accepting requests for not doing so, or ascribing the deaths to extraneous factors”.
“The enquiry committee came across several evidences that the affected families tried to avoid informing the police even when family members died due to consumption of spurious liquor. This was largely due to perceived fear of legal consequences of reporting the matter to the authorities. What is even more disturbing is that the State authorities themselves made no efforts to properly record and report deaths due to consumption of liquor. Since there is minimization, the gravity and extent of liquor tragedies do not come to light, thereby precluding the State from taking remedial measures,” says the report.
The NHRC team, which divided itself into three groups and visited the homes of 68 deceased (63 in Saran and 05 in Siwan) and seven injured victims in areas under Mashrak, Isuapur, Amnour, Marhaura, Taraiya police stations of Saran district and Bhagwanpur Hat police station of Siwan, talked to a large number of people, besides local administration and heath and officials, the report says.
Based on the statements of family members of victims, independent witnesses and villagers recorded during the enquiry, besides media reports and documents collected from the hospitals, the report says that there were 132 victims of the said liquor tragedy in districts Saran, Siwan and Begusarai of Bihar. Of these, 82 people lost their lives and 50 survived, including seven who lost their vision.
No monetary relief
The NHRC report also highlights “lack of response in terms of provision of immediate relief and mitigation to victims or their families, besides non-payment of compensation to the kin of deceased”.
“The declared policy of the State Government that no compensation shall be paid to the families of the deceased seems to be unfair,” it says.
“This apathy of the state government was apparently premised on the belief that the victims of the liquor tragedy do not deserve any sympathy or support because they violated the Prohibition Act. This view evidently ignores the fact that of 18 families of the deceased need compensation or relief because they are the actual victims (in the sense that they have lost an earning member of their family) even though they did not commit any crime,” the report says.
‘Govt cremated 33 bodies without autopsy’
Former union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the BJP, who represents Saran in the Lok Sabha, told HT that the NHRC report has made it amply clear that the state government tried to suppress the figures. “The government had cremated the bodies of 33 persons without any post-mortem examination. Majority of the deceased were labourers, farmers, driver and rickshaw pullers. Many people have also lost their eyesight after consuming spurious liquor,” he said.
When contacted, chief secretary Amir Subhani said, “We are yet to get any NHRC report.”
