19 sentenced under Mizoram’s week-old liquor law on Tuesday, tally touches 33

The Aizawl district court on Tuesday sentenced five people to a month in jail, punished five others to three days community service and fined two others Rs 1,000 each.

One man who had jumped his punishment of community service was also re-arrested and sentenced to a month in jail.

Meanwhile in the western districts of Mamit and Kolasib, seven people were sentenced to perform community service for being drunk.

On Monday, the Mamit district court had also convicted two men to six months in jail and fined Rs 500 each. That same day in Aizawl, five men were sentenced to three days of community service while a sixth was sentenced to a month in prison.

At least five people had last Friday been sentenced to perform three days of community service each while one was fined Rs 1000 after being arrested for drunk driving by law enforcement agencies.

Friday’s sentencing followed the sentencing on Thursday, the day the new law came into force, of a man to spend a month in jail after creating “public nuisance” in the southern town of Lunglei.

A government statement said police, traffic department and excise and narcotics personnel continue to actively conduct breath-analyser tests on drivers, especially of public transport vehicles such as taxis, maxi-cabs and buses.