Dry Gujarat: Overzealous cops book liquor shop owner from Union Territory of Daman

AHMEDABAD: Overzealous to show how strict they can get on prohibition issue, cops in Valsad have booked a liquor seller from the Union Territory of Daman where Gujarat’s prohibition laws are not applicable.
The liquor seller Manoj Patel alias Manu rushed to Gujarat high court as soon as he was implicated in a case of bootlegging. This happened when a bootlegger was caught on the national highway with a few IMFL bottles.He was ferrying liquor on his motorcycle earlier this month. During his interrogation, he told cops that he had purchased liquor from Patel’s wine shop. As soon as Patel’s name was disclosed, he was booked under the Prohibition Act.
Before the high court, Patel’s advocate Hardik Dave argued that his client owns a licensed liquor shop in Daman, which is a Union Territory and sale and consumption of alcohol is permitted with regulation in this area. Moreover, it is not the wine shop owner’s lookout who purchases liquor and where he takes the bottles along. He cannot be faulted for the deed of his customer who illegally carried alcohol in prohibited territory of Gujarat.
After preliminary hearing, Justice JB Pardiwala ordered the investigating officer to remain present before the court during next hearing, which is posted on January 18.
Earlier, the HC has junked such FIRs that were lodged by cops in south Gujarat against Daman’s wine shops. In one such case, owner of one Nikita Wine Shop in Daman was booked under prohibition laws by Gandevi Poli of Navsari district, when they caught few tipplers last year in inebriated condition. When the tipplers told cops that they had purchased liquor from Daman, police included shop owner’s name in FIR.