Bihar, which has a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol, is now seeing its schools emerging as a den of alcoholics. On Wednesday, November 16, two people were caught drinking alcohol in a primary school located in Makranda village of Manigachi block of Darbhanga. The duo were enjoying their drinks in a locked room on the first floor of the school and were being guarded by school headmistress Sajda Khatoon and her husband Mohammad Mukhtar.
According to the reports, the incident came to light when Senior Deputy Collector Pushpita Jha conducted a surprise inspection of the school on November 16. When she asked to open the lock of the room on the first floor of the school, she was shocked by the scene inside. Two guys were consuming alcohol while being provided with all the ‘comforts’ in the room including a carpet, a bed, cigarettes, and matchboxes.
Seeing Jha, both the men consuming alcohol, identified as Prakash Saday and Mithilesh Saday, ran away from the spot. They reside in the same village and had arrived in the classroom especially to consume alcohol. Reports mention that school headmistress Khatun allowed them to enter the class located on the first floor of the school and she used to protect them by locking the door from outside. She used to secure the keys and ensure nobody disturbed them during their ‘leisure’ time.
Meanwhile, Khatun’s husband Mohammad Mukhtar used to hide the liquor bottles after these ‘sessions’. He also hid the bottles on Wednesday after Prakash Saday and Mithilesh Saday were caught red-handed by Pushpita Jha. Jha has instructed the BDO and BEO to look into the matter and suspend the headmistress after inspection. Along with this, details of other teachers employed at the school have also been sought. Describing it as a serious matter, Darbhanga DM Rajeev Roshan has said that such incidents will not be tolerated.
Notably, this is not the first incident in which people have been caught drinking alcohol in a Bihar school. Recently, a video surfaced from Ara in which some people were seen having a liquor party comfortably while sitting inside a government school. In September, 150 cartons of liquor were recovered from a government school in Vaishali. A room in this school was being used as a godown by the people involved in the illegal business of liquor.
While schools in Bihar have become liquor dens and the involvement of staff is becoming more evident, the state government earlier this year had ordered the school teachers to report any ongoing alcohol-related activity on or near school grounds to authorities.
