At least 31 dead and multiple others left blind as death toll from illegally brewed alcohol in India rises

Multiple regions across India have banned the selling, making and drinking of alcohol. (Reuters: Adnan Abidi )

At least 31 people have died and 20 others have been left in a serious condition after allegedly drinking tainted liquor sold without authorisation in eastern India.

Key points:
Some protesters want the ban to be scrapped and monetary compensation for victims
Three people are being questioned for allegedly selling spiked alcohol in the area
Illicit liquor has become a hugely profitable industry across India
The victims belonged to three villages in Saran district of Bihar state where the manufacturing, sale and consumption of liquor has been prohibited.

The deaths were reported in a district government-run hospital where the sick were brought by their families for treatment, said hospital chief Dr SD Sinha.

Sale and consumption of liquor were prohibited in Bihar state in 2016 after women’s groups campaigned against poor workers splurging their meagre incomes on drinking.

Police officer Santosh Kumar said several of the 20 hospitalised have lost their eyesight.

Several opposition parties, including the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, have held protests outside the state legislature building to demand the region’s liquor ban be scrapped.

They also called for monetary compensation to be provided to the bereaved families.

Sushil Modi, the state BJP leader, said more than 1,000 people have died after drinking tainted liquor since the ban was imposed six years ago. The BJP is in opposition in the state.

People stand around a dummy with a photo of a person’s face stapled to it.
Incidents earlier this year sparked protests against selling alcohol. (Reuters: Amit Dave )
Nitish Kumar, the state’s top elected official belonging to the socialist party Janata Dal, rejected their demands and said the ban on the sale of liquor was “not my personal wish but a response to the cries of the women of the state”.

Three people have been detained for questioning for allegedly selling spiked alcohol in the area, he said.

Saran district is nearly 60 kilometres north of Patna, the Bihar state capital.

Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India, where illicit liquor is cheap and often spiked with chemicals such as pesticides to increase potency.

A man is listed via stretcher into the back of an ambulance.
This man was one of dozens hospitalised earlier this year after drinking illegal alcohol. (Reuters: Amit Dave )
Illicit liquor has also become a hugely profitable industry across India, where bootleggers pay no taxes and sell enormous quantities of their product to the poor at a cheap rate.

At least 28 people died and 60 others became ill from drinking tainted liquor in the western Indian state of Gujarat earlier this year.

Gujarat is another Indian state where the manufacturing, sale and consumption of liquor are prohibited.

In 2020, at least 120 people died after drinking tainted liquor in India’s northern Punjab state.

AP