14 get life, one a 10-year term for Bihar hooch tragedy

Patna, July 28: A Bihar court on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to 14 persons and 10 years in jail to one person in the 2012 hooch tragedy reported in Ara in Bhojpur district, a government lawyer said.

Ara Additional District and Sessions Judge R.C. Diwedi on Tuesday pronounced all 15 accused guilty.

In 2012, four years before the imposition of total prohibition in Bihar, 21 Dalits had died after consuming spurious liquor in Anaitha village of Ara.

The deaths had sparked widespread protests in Bhojpur, with hundreds of students blocking roads and the then opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leaders blaming the state government.