NHRC team visit triggers war of words in Bihar

PATNA:  A nine-member team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) arrived in Patna on Tuesday to inquire into death of over allegedly 60 persons in a hooch tragedy in Saran district last week. The team will visit the affected villages and record statement of the victims’ relatives. 

The state excise, prohibition and registration department minister Sunil Kumar, however, claimed that only 38 people had died in the incident and described the number of deaths quoted in some media reports as ‘misleading’. Kumar alleged that the Opposition was creating confusion among people on the issue. 

RJD spokesperson and former MLA Shakti Singh Yadav said that NHRC has virtually become the ‘BJP’s commission’ to serve its political purpose. “It’s working like a political tool of BJP,” he alleged. Defending prohibition in Bihar, Yadav said that the highest number of deaths due to consumption of spurious alcohol had been reported from BJP ruled states, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.