Veroli Zhimo
Under massive pressure from the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) and Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA), the then Congress government passed the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act, 1989 in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly in 1989.
Those who support alcohol prohibition point at the dangers of drinking, the lives it has destroyed and the misery caused. They no doubt have a point, but some countered that alcohol consumption should be regulated in public interest, and not totally prohibited.
Nevertheless, Nagaland became a ‘dry state’ and instead of drinking legally, people started drinking ‘illegally.’
The inflow of liquor into the dry state has since remained regular and adequate for the consumers over the last 31 years and hundreds of people are arrested every year for “contravention of the provision” of the Act.
However, in 2019, Nagaland reported ‘zero’ convictions under the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act as well as the Nagaland Excise Act, as per the ‘Prison Statistics India 2019’ report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
This comes as a surprise for citizens as the number of arrests, reported by the enforcement agencies; stand in stark contrast to the rate of conviction.
An official of the Department of Excise & Prohibition had told this newspaper that the ‘zero convictions’ may have something to do with the magisterial authority conferred to the department under the NLTP Act. In other words, the department serves as a “quasi judicial body” when it comes to liquor offences.
As such, most offences are disposed by the department— imposing monetary penalty on the offenders, as specified in the Act, and the illicit liquor impounded for destruction.
Among other cases this month alone, on September 2, a joint team of security forces and Nagaland Police busted a distillery plant in Dimapur, leading to huge public outcry among citizens on social media as well as the print media.
The citizens demanded the ‘harshest’ punishment under the law against the guilty.
A quick look into the NLTP Act reveals that those in “contravention of the provision” of the Act shall face imprisonment of not less than six months along with a fine of not less than Rs 500, for the first offence.
For a second offence, such imprisonment shall not be less than nine months, and fine shall not be less than Rs 1,000 and for a third or subsequent offences, such imprisonment shall not be less than one year and fine shall not be less than Rs 2,000.
While there are various quanta of punishments, these appear to be the ‘harshest’ among them.
Here, the interpretation of a layperson may seem to be somewhat simplified, but it would be safe to say that the provisions under the legislation are ‘toothless.’
The NLPT Act must be either reviewed thoroughly and strengthened to discourage violation or modified to allow people to drink legally under certain conditions. Else, Nagaland’s ‘dry state’ status will only remain on paper while ‘illegal’ alcohol continues to flow.
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