270 days after Bihar liquor ban, major crimes up 13%

January 12, 2017

Patna, Jan 12: During a recent visit to Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his alcohol ban policy in Bihar. He said: “I greet Nitish Kumar from the core of my heart for launching a campaign against liquor. But, this work (prohibition) would not be a grand success only by efforts of Nitish Kumar or one party. All the political parties, social organisations and citizens have to participate in it to make it a ‘jan-jan ka andolan‘ (people’s movement).”

crimeIn April 2016, Kumar announced a ban on the sale and consumption of country liquor in the state. The ban was one of Kumar’s key poll promises made to women voters–who rallied behind him strongly, as this Mint report indicates–during the 2015 assembly elections.

Thirty days after the ban, Kumar claimed that the crime was down 27% , according to his analysis of crime data from April 2016 and April 2015.

Nine months–or 270 days–into the ban, an IndiaSpend analysis of Bihar Police crime data, reveals that cognizable crime–which the police can investigate without a magistrate’s order–rose 13% between April and October 2016, from 14,279 in April to 16,153 in October (latest available data).

In other words, the liquor ban does not correlate with a drop in crime, a primary reason for the new law, which came into being despite the Patna High Court holding it violative of the Constitution because it denied citizens their right to privacy under Article 21.

Conviction of criminals in Bihar had declined 68%, from 14,311 in 2010 to 4,513 in 2015, and cognizable crimes rose 42% over the same period, IndiaSpend reported in May 2016.

Bihar has a lower crime rate than more prosperous states with fewer people, such as Gujarat, Kerala, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, mainly due to under-reporting, IndiaSpend reported in May 2016.

The Patna High Court had quashed the alcohol ban in September 2016, terming the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Act 2016, “illegal”. The new Bill provided punishment that included arrests of all adults in the family if anyone stores or consumes alcohol. Those flouting the ban face up to 10 years in jail, and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. If a government bill is struck down by the courts, legislative sanction can convert it into a law that the courts cannot interfere with. That is what happened in Bihar.

Within two days of the high court order, the Bihar government notified a new law, the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, ensuring that the ban on sale and consumption of alcohol, including Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and “spiced” and domestic liquor, continued in the state, even though the high court said a ban was “ultra vires of the constitution”.

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zakir
 - 
Thursday, 12 Jan 2017

Let other states take the same initiate if they really support women..

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News Network
January 15,2020

New Delhi, Jan 15: The CBI has booked 17 individuals and companies, including three Mumbai-based senior Customs officials, for allegedly being part of a money laundering racket using over-invoiced import of diamonds worth more than Rs 156 crore, official said on Tuesday.

The case was referred to the CBI after a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence probe found alleged involvement of Customs officials in the conspiracy, they said.

The DRI probe had alleged that Hong Kong-based businessman Girish Kadel had imported rough diamonds from Switzerland to Hong Kong in the name of his four companies.

Kadel, who had business interests in India, had exported some of these diamonds to India through 14 consignments in the name of two companies Antique Exim Pvt Ltd and Tanman Jewels showing over-invoiced value of Rs 156.28 crore.

The DRI had found during revaluation that actual value of the consignment was Rs 1.03 crore instead of falsely declared value of Rs 156.28 crore, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that Kadel used Import Export Codes (IECs) of Antique Exim Private Ltd and Tanman Jewels through his aide Atul Paldecha for siphoning off the money outside India through import of over-valued diamonds, the officials said.

Rough diamonds were imported at "highly exaggerated value" to siphon off excess foreign exchange overseas to cover the differential cost of other imports and park money abroad for unlawful activities.

It is alleged that the then Commissioner APSC Mumbai, Vinay Brij Singh, influenced subordinate officers to give favourable report, they said.

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Agencies
May 25,2020

Hyderabad, May 25: Indicating foul play in the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were fished out from a well near Warangal, a forensic expert on Sunday virtually ruled out suicide theory, saying it appeared seven of them had been dragged and thrown into the water body.

Mystery shrouded the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were found in a well, five of them on Friday and four on Thursday, on the outskirts of Warangal in Telangana.

Police stepped up the probe and forensic analysis was also underway in the case.

The forensic expert, who visited the crime scene as part of the investigation citing preliminary tests, said that the seven of nine people had scratch injuries and appeared to have been "dragged" and "thrown" into the well.

Forensic reports are expected in 10 days, the forensic expert told media on Sunday adding after examining the crime scene it appears that the deaths were not suicides.

"We have preserved all organs and the same were sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL) for examination... some two or three persons might have been involved in the crime. There are scratch injuries on the bodies," he said.

"It appears that they were thrown into the water... There were no injuries on the child's body. We are awaiting the forensic report (to ascertain) whether they were poisoned. It didn't appear as if they committed suicide," the expert, who performed the post-mortem said.

Police sources said at least two people were picked up for questioning.

Bodies of the head of the family, wife, daughter and three-year old grandson were found floating and fished out on Thursday.

On Friday morning, some bodies were seen floating following which police pumped out the water from the well and found others.

The 48-year old man had migrated from West Bengal over 20 years ago and had settled down here. His family had been staying in two rooms on the premises of the unit, police had earlier said.

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News Network
July 15,2020

Mumbai, Jul 15: A domestic row between a couple spilled onto road when a woman stopped her husbands car and climbed on its bonnet, briefly disrupting traffic on the busy Pedder Road in South Mumbai, police said on Wednesday.

The incident, which took place on Saturday evening, was recorded by some passersby on their mobile phones and its videos are making rounds on social media.

The wife chased the husband's SUV (sports utility vehicle) in her car after she spotted another woman seated next to him in his vehicle.

As her husband's SUV stopped at the Pedder Road signal, the wife get down from her car, rushed towards his four-wheeler and started shouting at him, a police official said.

In the video, the woman is seen climbing the bonnet of the SUV, removing her footwear and hitting the vehicle's windshield with it. She is also seen asking the husband's co- passenger to get out of the SUV and shouting for police help.

As she stopped her car in the middle of the busy road, one lane got blocked for some time and the traffic police personnel present there tried to ensure movement of other vehicles, the official said.

After sometime, the traffic police asked the couple to take their cars near the footpath.

By that time, the husband stepped out of his SUV, following which the wife ran towards him and caught him. She even kicked him a couple of times and took him to her car, the video shows.

She then again ran towards her husband's SUV, which was parked a few metres away. She opened its driver-side door and lunged at the woman seated in the vehicle, but was stopped by some people who had gathered at the spot, the police official said.

Later, the couple and their cars were taken to Gamdevi police station, where the wife refused to lodge a complaint against her husband.

A fine was imposed on her for traffic rules violation and abandoning her car in the middle of the road, which caused disruption of vehicular movement, the official said.

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