Upset over the number of deaths in Madhya Pradesh in the last one and a half years, Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet on Tuesday approved a draft resolution providing for death penalty and life imprisonment for selling spurious liquor.
The cabinet on Tuesday approved a draft proposal to amend the Excise Act for the purpose and now the bill will be introduced in the Assembly during the upcoming monsoon session beginning August 9.
Speaking to News18, Home Minister Dr Narottam Mishra said, “MP is the first state which is enacting a law that can give life imprisonment and death penalty for liquor trade. On Tuesday, the cabinet approved the draft proposal.
Mishra said that in the draft proposal, there is a provision of fine up to Rs 20 lakh on liquor traders. He said that after getting approval from the Parliament, it will come into force as a law.
As of now, the provisions of the Excise Act carry a maximum jail term of ten years for trading in liquor.
The draft resolution also held distilleries responsible for any involvement in the illegal business of liquor.
In the last one and a half years, cases of spurious liquor have increased in the state, in which more than 50 people have died. Last year, 26 people died in Morena and 14 in Ujjain after consuming spurious liquor. Recently, five died in Mandsaur district and three in Indore in a similar incident.
During the law and order review meeting held at Mantralaya, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had claimed that the state was enacting a strict law to punish those indulging in illegal liquor business.
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