Hooch tragedy: Bihar objects to NHRC probe

Patna: The Bihar Government on Tuesday objected to the investigations by the National Human Rights Commission into the deaths due to spurious liquor in Chhapra and Saran districts.

Commission member Rajiv Jain visited Saran to probe the hooch tragedy on Tuesday.

Protesting against the move, Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhury claimed that the Commission has neither the jurisdiction nor the authority to investigate the hooch tragedy. “Where is the violation of human rights in the hooch tragedy,” Mr Chaudhury questioned, saying why the NHRC failed to investigate the Morbi bridge collapse in which 150 were killed in Gujarat.

Mr Jain met the chief secretary, the additional chief secretary (home) and the DGP, Bihar. Later, he visited Saran, where he met the district magistrate and the SP.

The NHRC member talked to the survivors and families of the hooch tragedy victims.

The Commission took suo motu cognisance of the deaths due to the consumption of spurious liquor in the wake of deaths in other districts too. The Commission observed that the State has not been able to stop the sale of spurious liquor in Bihar, where the total prohibition was enforced in 2016. It decided to probe the tragedy as the victims were downtrodden. “What steps were taken to provide relief and rehabilitate the families,” he said.

Mr Jain will investigate whether the victims were given medical facilities. “Since they were poor, they could have been treated in private hospitals but it was not done.” It is for the first time the NHRC has intervened immediately following the death of more than 100 people due to spurious liquor in Saran.

Published on: Wednesday, December 21, 2022, 03:18 AM IST