Acquiring booze in Bengaluru is a piece of cake

BIG-IMAGE## Under Section 36(1)(g) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, it is an offence to sell or give any intoxicant to people under 18 years of age. In addition, the Karnataka Excise Licenses (General Conditions) Rules, 1967, says that no liquor can be sold or otherwise given to a person below the age of 21 years (with a maximum fine of Rs 1,000).

When Laya Sajan was 17 (she is now 18), she would see her mates and peers (then underage) buy alcohol from liquor shops in a bid to “pre-game” before parties, toss themselves silly at parties, and then take autos home as late at 2 AM, It frightened her. “They weren’t even asked for IDs at these shops. I know of people who have gotten drunk at parties and then woken up in hospital, with their stomach being pumped,” she says. As someone who comes from a family “with a drinking culture”, where her parents speak to her openly about alcohol, Sajan believes that an open and honest conversation is the only way to stem the tide of alcohol abuse among youngsters

And yet, when Sajan, walked into Temptation Wines on Church Street and Dewars Wine Stores on St Mark’s Road on Wednesday to buy Old Monk rum, she was asked for no ID proof, and at one place, was provided a bill only when she asked for it, and photographer who accompanied Sajan for this report. The sale of alcohol to underage persons with total disregard for the law is a common occurrence statewide, which is why, in July 2018, Sajan filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the menace. This, after the petition she registered in High Court in August 2017 was disposed of, with a directive to approach the State Government instead.

As the daughter of two lawyers, taking legal option was the initial and obvious option for her when she saw all this was going on. In her petition, Sajan contends that ‘not a single case has been registered against owners of shops, liquor vends, pubs, lounges and resto-bars in the city of Bengaluru for serving or selling liquor to under-aged patrons ever since the legally permissible age to consume liquor in the State of Karnataka was increased from 18 to 21 years in 1976’.

One of the reports she cites as part of her appeal is a 2013 study titled ‘Assessment of Pattern and Profile of Substance Use among Children in India’, prepared by the Working Group on Substance Abuse and Drug Addiction, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The study is quoted: ‘It was found that “most of child sample which was recruited from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (85-89%) reported current use of alcohol” and “most children from Karnataka reported past month use (88.9%)”. The study, on the stage of a review of literature on the issue of substance abuse, and after analysing the sample of 321 child outpatients from National lnstitute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, observed that 42% were cases of alcoholic substance abuse’.

According to Section 77 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, a person, who gives or makes to be given to any child any intoxicating liquor, shall be punishable with effective imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees. “In this light, we have raised, as one of the multiple questions, the question that whether the 2015 Act, being a special legislation for the welfare of children, will prevail over the 1965 Act and similar legislations in other States, insofar as the punishment for underage service of alcohol is concerned?” she says.

There also need to be clear guidelines regarding selling, sourcing and consumption of alcohol. At one place, we didn’t even get a bill until we asked for it,” she says. “They need to check IDs and regulate the legal sale of alcohol. We have demandable evidence from kids in rehabilitation facilities who have overdosed on alcohol. Everyone knows how kids in schools in Bengaluru are buying and drinking, but no one’s doing anything about it.” Sajan has no intention of being one of those people.