UP Govt: Death for any hooch fatality

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, September 20

The Uttar Pradesh Government has approved changes to the excise law to introduce death penalty and life imprisonment for those responsible for deaths due to illicit liquor.

A Cabinet meeting approved changes to the UP Excise Act, 1910, to include harsher punishment for illicit liquor manufacturers.

With the addition of Section 60A to the Act now, those guilty of causing death or permanent disability due to illicit liquor could be imprisonment for life or have to pay Rs 10 lakh or both or even face death sentence.

The Cabinet meeting presided over by CM Yogi approved over 20 amendments to Act.

The measure would act as a deterrent, said UP Excise Minister Jai Pratap Singh. 

After Delhi and Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh would become the third state where bootleggers might be sent to the gallows, if consumption of spurious liquor led to loss of life. “Since the state legislature is not in session, an ordinance will be brought and when the House meets, a Bill can be passed,” Singh said.

The death penalty provision would be applied depending upon the intensity of the case, he said. The minister also said a new state excise policy was on the drawing board and would be ready in the next six months.

As per the proposal mooted in the cabinet last night, the government would amend various sections of the UP Excise Act, 2010, and add a new Section 60(A) for the purpose. The amendment would also make the offence non-bailable.

Hooch tragedies take a heavy toll every year in Uttar Pradesh. (with PTI inputs)