Hooch is an illicitly distilled and usually inferior alcoholic liquor and occurrences of tragedy after consuming it are not new in India. In the Bihar tragedy, police have arrested over 90 people.
The Dhanbad liquor tragedy took place in December 1978. (Photo credit: Unsplash)
New Delhi: A hooch tragedy has taken place in Bihar’s Siwan and Saran districts and it has taken the lives of 35 people. The police said that they have arrested more than 90 people across both districts after the incident, including illegal liquor suppliers and smugglers. Hooch is an illicitly distilled and usually inferior alcoholic liquor and occurrences of tragedy after consuming it are not new in India. In this article, we will take a look at the biggest cases of alcohol poisoning in India.
Biggest cases of alcohol poisoning in India
Dhanbad liquor tragedy
The Dhanbad liquor tragedy took place in December 1978 in Dhanbad, which was then in Bihar and currently in Jharkhand. The tragedy led to the death of 254 people after they drank tainted bootleg liquor.
Karnataka alcohol poisonings
In July 1981 about 308 people died in Bengaluru after they consumed illicit liquor. The reason behind the deaths was the adulteration of cheap liquor by methyl alcohol. Most of the victims were poor Dalits and the police registered cases against 63 people. However, nobody was convicted or punished.
Vypin alcohol poisonings
In 1982, alcohol poisonings killed around 77 people in Vypin near Kochi in Kerala. Hundreds of people, mostly fish workers and labourers, drank liquor which was available in arrack shops licensed by the government. It happened during Onam and apart from the death toll, the alcohol poisonings blinded 63, crippled 15, and reduced around 650 families to penury.
Delhi alcohol poisonings
On November 5, 1991, alcohol poisoning in Delhi killed 199 people. Most of them were labourers and rickshaw pullers and they consumed Karpoor Asav or sura, a so-called ayurvedic medicine. A firm called Karnal Pharmacy reportedly made the alcohol and it had methyl alcohol as tests later confirmed.
Odisha liquor deaths
The Odisha liquor deaths took place in May 1992 in Cuttack. Over 200 people died after they drank illegally brewed poisonous liquor and 600 people were hospitalised. It was one of the biggest tragedies of its kind in India.
West Bengal alcohol poisonings
The West Bengal alcohol poisonings took place in December 2011. The alcohol poisonings killed 167 people after they consumed spurious liquor mixed with methyl alcohol.
Assam alcohol poisonings
In February 2019, at least 168 people died after drinking toxic bootleg alcohol in Assam’s Jorhat and Golaghat districts. The incident occurred two weeks after 100 people died by drinking toxic alcohol in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
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