Patna HC acquits 13 convicts in Gopalganj hooch case

PATNA: The Patna high court on Wednesday acquitted all 13 people who were convicted and sentenced in connection with the infamous Khajurbanni hooch tragedy in Gopalganj in August 2016 in which 16 persons had lost their lives.
A division bench of Justice Aswini Kumar Singh and Justice Harish Kumar, while allowing criminal appeals, quashed the judgement passed by a special excise court in Gopalganj on February 26, 2021. The court of additional district and session judge II-cum- special judge (excise), Gopalganj had held all the 13 people guilty under various provisions of Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act and Indian Penal Code.
The high court also set aside the order of punishment order of the special excise court issued on March 5, 2021, whereby several punishments were awarded to the appellants, ranging from six-month rigorous imprisonment to death sentence to nine of the 13 convicts.
The high court, in its 86-page judgment, held the impugned judgement and order of punishments illegal as they could not pass the parameters of "fair trial envisaged in the laws of land".