After police busted a rave in a swanky part of Mumbai last week, the city’s drinkers have woken up with an almighty legal hangover.
Authorities have decided to enforce a 63-year-old law that requires every adult above the age of 25 to own a permit for alcohol consumption.
According to the Bombay Prohibition Act, introduced in 1949, every drinker in Mumbai needs a government permit — 5 rupees for a daily licence and 1,000 rupees ($18) for a lifetime permit.
Once an individual acquires the permit, they can possess up to 12 units of liquor at any given time. The penalty for boozing without a licence will be a fine of 50,000 rupees or five years in jail, or both.
I have three problems with this plan.
One: if the police want people to drink sensibly, or to give up the bottle altogether, I doubt that a thousand rupees will act as enough of a deterrent.
