Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, November 22
A Patna bride had unexpected guests at her wedding last night; the men in Khaki who knocked her room to look for a bottle of booze.
The police team thoroughly searched the room, opened all bags and wardrobes. But they finally failed to get even a drop of liquor. Bihar is liquor prohibited state and the Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar has asked the cops “ek ek chij dekhiye (search everything).” The Ramkrishna Nagar police in Patna followed the instruction.
Police team searched all rooms occupied by the bride’s family and told them they were conducting searches on the orders of their superiors. The women in the room including the bride cooperated with the police despite there being no lady police present during the searches.
Former Chief Minister, Mrs Rabri Devi took strong objection to the searches made in the bride’s room without woman police. In a tweet she alleged the privacy of the bride was encroached upon in the pretext of searching for liquor, but nothing was found, Police action disturbed the ceremony, she added.
Talking to the media, the Chief Minister said the police might have gone after getting some information. He has asked the officials in the chief minister’s office to get details about the incident. Police have the responsibility to enforce prohibition, he said and added they are doing their job.
Following a row over the police raid on the bride’s room, Divisional commissioner of Patna Sanjay Kumar Agarwal held a meeting of the district magistrates, SPs and sub divisional magistrates to implement total prohibition and prevent import of liquor. He directed that innocents should not be harassed.
The State Government today asked the parents of both grooms and brides to submit declarations at the local police stations, three days before marriages, that liquor would not be served.
In the last two days, over 200 people have been arrested in Patna for violation of prohibition laws, majority of them had come from outside the state to attend weddings of their friends. Police arrested hotel owners and managers where the alleged violators were staying. A woman doctor who had come here from Pune was also arrested along with a local doctor in a hotel room where liquor was served.
Those arrested in the last two days include engineers, doctors, professors, law students, railway guard and state government employees. They have been sent to judicial custody for 15 days. On Monday morning, Shastri Nagar police here destroyed an illicit liquor manufacturing unit at Maurya Path slums.
Explaining the legal provisions in the row over police hunt for liquor in bride’s room and her wardrobes at Patna, Chhaya Mishra, a well-known woman lawyer of Patna High Court, said under the Bihar Excise Act, there was no direction for presence of Women police during searches or raids for liquor. However, protocols suggest presence of Women cops for fairness of the searches in women’s rooms as done in case of IT, vigilance, CBI or even NCB raids or searches
There is no act about women police. They are not posted in every police station and are not given night duties, she said, adding that searches in the bride’s room, her wardrobes, other women guests without informing them is definitely an attack on the right to privacy of the women.
It is a fundamental right implied in the right to life and Liberty guaranteed under article 21 of the Constitution. The Honourable Supreme Court in the Aadhar card case in September 2018 had included the right of privacy as a fundamental right, Mrs Mishra said.
