Hooch Tragedy: "If Released Society Would Be Full Of Widowed Women, Orphaned Children": P&H High Court Denies Bail To A Bootlegger

Observing that an iron hand approach is needed to deal with people who are involved in supplying/selling the illicit spurious country-made liquor and alcohol, the Punjab & Haryana High Court last week denied bail to a bootlegger.

Denying him bail, the Bench of Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill observed:

"If such kind of persons are released on bail, they would further decay the very system of the Society and their such acts would render the Society full with widowed women; orphaned children and old and infirm parents with full of woes and sorrow tales."

The Court was hearing the bail plea of one Avnash Singh who has been accused of supplying illicit spurious poisonous liquor to "habitual drunkards from the poor strata of the Society" as a result of which, many people who consumed the same had either died or lost their eyesight.

A case has been registered against him under Sections 328, 272, and 120-B IPC, Sections 326, 109 and 114 IPC (added later on) and Sections 61 and 63 of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914. In another matter, he has been booked under Sections 302, 304, 328, 326, 109, and 120-B IPC, Sections 61 and 63 of the Punjab Excise Act and Section 6 of Poisons Act, 1919.

Court's observations

At the outset, the Court noted that the modus operandi and the mens-rea behind the preparation of spurious country-made liquor with the objective of selling it to the people from the underprivileged sections of society, is a well-thought-out design and the same has eaten into the very roots of the Society.

Significantly, the Court remarked:

"One cannot lose sight of the various such like hooch tragedies reported in the recent past from different parts of the country, all leading to the death of many persons from the marginalized sections of society. As the people used to the substance, go berserk under the allurement of the said liquor being cheap, none can speak of their prudence, at the dangling moment of addiction. It is this state of these hapless people, which is taken benefit of by the people like the petitioner."

Viewing the matter from another angle, the Court observed that the greed of the accused like the petitioner is to earn money at the cost of the lives of innocent and poor people.

Noting that the petitioner had played havoc and committed the brutality of killing the people through passive mode(s) merely for monetary benefits, the Court observed that such person having snatched from others the right to live with dignity does not deserve any kind of leniency and has to be dealt with iron hands.

In view of the above, finding no merit in the instant petition, the Court dismissed his bail plea. 

Case title - Avnash Singh v. State of Punjab

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