Patna High Court Comment On Liquor Ban : The Patna High Court, while quashing the demotion order issued against a police inspector for negligence in implementing the liquor ban law, remarked that these provisions have become useful for the police, which works in connivance with the smugglers. Justice Purnendu Singh said in a judgment on October 29, "Not only police officers, excise officers, but also officials of the Commercial Tax Department and Transport Department like liquor ban. For them it means big money.

In fact, prohibition has encouraged unauthorised trade of liquor and other banned items. These stringent provisions have become a convenient tool for the police, which works in connivance with smugglers. The order came in response to a writ petition filed by Mukesh Kumar Paswan, who was working as the Station House Officer (SHO) at Patna Bypass police station. Paswan was suspended after foreign liquor was recovered during a raid by officials of the state's excise department.

Paswan was demoted by the state government on November 24, 2020, despite presenting a defence and claiming his innocence during the investigation. The sale and consumption of alcohol in Bihar was banned by the Nitish Kumar government in April 2016. The court said, "Very few cases are registered against the kingpins or syndicate operators involved in alcohol smuggling, while a large number of cases are registered against the poor who consume alcohol or fall victim to the alcohol tragedy. By and large, it is the poor people of the state who are bearing the brunt of this act."

The court said that Article 47 of the Indian Constitution lays down the duty of the state to raise the standard of living and to improve public health at large and thus the state government enacted the Bihar Liquor Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 with the said objective but for several reasons, it (the law) finds itself on the wrong side of history. The court said that those who are bearing the brunt of this Act are daily wage labourers who are the sole earning members of their families.

The court also said that the investigating officer does not corroborate the allegations made in the prosecution case with any legal document and such loopholes are left which allow the mafia to go scot-free due to lack of evidence. The High Court said that the departmental proceedings have become a mere formality. Along with quashing the order of punishment, the court also quashed the departmental proceedings initiated against the petitioner.