Guwahati: Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sushil Modi asserted on Sunday that the Chapra hooch accident victims’ families are conducting their last rites without a post-mortem because they are “frightened of the police.”
Additionally, Modi stated that “more than 100 deaths” had occurred and charged the state government of concealing the true toll of the disaster.
“The death toll has crossed 100 but the government is hiding the numbers. Due to fear of the police, people are performing the last rites of their family members without a post-mortem,” Sushil Modi said while addressing the reporters here.
Modi visited with the families of those who perished in the Chhapra hooch tragedy on Saturday.
The number of people who have died in Chhapra, Bihar, as a result of consuming fake alcohol has reached 65. There were the initial reports of the incident on Wednesday.
The majority of the fatalities apparently happened between Wednesday and Thursday, causing a commotion both inside and outside the Bihar Assembly.
More deaths beyond the official count are being reported by a number of opposition leaders.
Despite a state-wide prohibition on the sale and consumption of alcohol that has been in place since April 2016, the opposition, backed by the BJP, challenged the JD(U)-RJD in response to the rising number of booze-related fatalities.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar warned on Friday that no compensation will be granted if a person passes away after ingesting fake alcohol, drawing harsh criticism from the opposition, which is run by the BJP.
“No compensation will be provided to people who die after consuming spurious liquor. We have been appealing to you not to drink. If you drink, you will die. Those who speak against prohibition will not bring any good to the people,” the Bihar CM said in the Assembly on Friday.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Saturday that it will send a team led by one of its members to conduct an on-the-ground investigation as a result of more deaths associated with the hooch tragedy reported in other districts of Bihar.
The Commission expressed worry over the location and type of medical care being given to these victims.
“Most of them are from poor families and probably cannot afford costly medical treatment in private hospitals therefore, it becomes extremely necessary on the part of the state government to provide them the best possible medical treatment wherever it is available,” the NHRC said in a statement.
The Commission has remarked that these occurrences show that the state has not been able to stop the sale of illegal and fake liquor since the state of Bihar outlawed the sale and consumption of alcohol in April 2016.