A Class 4 student in Siswa, Begusarai, Bihar, returned home drunk on Monday after consuming illicit liquor stored in a dilapidated school toilet. Police seized 23 cartons containing 204 litres of the liquor from the site. The incident occurred nearly a week after a suspected hooch tragedy in Motihari.
Family members of the student in Siswa, Begusarai, noticed his disoriented state upon returning from school. “My nephew was unable to walk properly and was blabbering. His friends told us that he had consumed liquor stacked in huge quantities in the school toilet,” the student's uncle said.
The family informed the school principal, who inspected the dilapidated toilet behind the building and found several cartons of illicit liquor. The principal alerted the police, who seized the 23 cartons containing 204 litres and registered a case against unknown persons, launching an investigation.
“The involvement of someone from the village cannot be ruled out. We have registered a case and will nab those involved soon. It’s a very serious issue as to how the illegal liquor reached the government school toilet structure and was stacked there,” said a police officer at Bachhwara police station, speaking anonymously.
Bihar has been a dry state since April 5, 2016, banning the manufacture, sale, and consumption of liquor, yet smuggling from neighbouring states and Nepal persists. Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal posted on social media: “In Bihar, prohibition has become a joke. The law has failed to achieve its purpose due to an alliance between the government and the liquor mafia.” He alleged daily seizures of over 11,000 litres of spurious liquor on average and institutional corruption worth ₹40,000 crore.
Since the law's enforcement, 11 lakh cases have been registered, 16 lakh people arrested, over 5 crore litres seized—including 2 crore in the past five years—and more than 350 deaths in hooch incidents.