‘Is a shop owner charged with murder for selling a knife?’

Lets face it young people canrsquot be stopped from drinking Sure there are laws to prevent it but barely any enforcement Ask for their ID to prove their age and theyrsquoll show a fake one Bars too are unlikely to push beyond this perfunctory exchange especially when youngsters form a large chunk of their patronage But who is responsible when one of them goes behind the wheel and crashesIn Maharashtra the legal minimum age to drink beer and wine is 21 for hard liquor the cap is raised to 25 years But step into any bar in the city and chances are yoursquoll see faces that donrsquot look a day over 20 Despite rules in place to check identity proof and block underage drinkers from entry they find ways around it including entering an establishment with older friendsBMC partially razes Vice Global Tapas Bar in Juhu days after it was discovered the pub had served liquor to a 23yearold who went on to drive under influence and mowed down a woman in WorliIn last weekrsquos Worli hitandrun case 23yearold Mihir Shah resorted to this method at Juhursquos Vice Global Tapas Bar where police say he drank multiple pegs of whisky in the intervening night of July 6 and 7 He then left the pub with his friends and driver bought four beer cans from Malad and consumed them in the car while driving towards south Mumbai where he allegedly mowed down a 45yearold fish monger who was returning from Crawford Market with her husband after buying the dayrsquos catch in the wee hours Shahrsquos BMW is said to have hit the twowheeler from the rear flinging the couple into the air They landed on Shahrsquos bonnet and Kaveri Nakhwa slipped under the carrsquos wheels Shah was accused by her husband Pradeep of dragging her body for a distance of 15 km in a bid to escape Two days later the state excise department sealed the Juhu pub for serving liquor to underage drinkers among other reasons A day after on July 10 the BMC partially razed portions of the bar which it said were illegal extensions Officials clarified that despite the timing the demolition was not related to the Worli accident involving KaveriVice Global Tapas Bar before the demolition actionldquoIt was found that an open space of about 1500 sq ft on the ground floor and 2000 sq ft on the roof were being used without permission by placing an iron shed Accordingly the encroachment removal team demolished the constructionrdquo a civic official told middayNot everyone is convinced thoughRestaurateurs across Mumbai that midday spoke to amid the outrage over the crash are lamenting how hospitality establishments are an easy target for the authorities demolition action then is merely for optics to declare that action has been taken ldquoIf someone drinks at our restaurant goes out and has an accident how is it our faultrdquo asks a staffer at Vice after the demolitionAdvocate Sujay Kantawala and Dr Harish Shetty psychiatristThe most hospitality staff can do is ask to see a photo ID to determine the age of the patron The Juhu pubrsquos management has claimed that the staff checked Shahrsquos older friendrsquos ID and allowed the group entryPawan Shahri is cofounder of Chrome Hospitality that runs popular pubs Lyla Blah and Gigi He argues that counting a restaurateur to be party to a drink and drive case is baseless ldquoA person driving under the influence is responsible since she has taken to the wheel Where they drank is not the question Our job is to check their ID and serve an order A general store owner who sold a knife cannot be responsible for a murder carried out with the purchaserdquoShahri questions the demolition of structures as a reaction to a drink driving case ldquoThe BMC knows best what is legal and not but it demolition of illegal extensionsencroachments should be done for the right reasonrdquo he saysMihir Shah was allegedly driving a BMW far right under influence when it hit Kaveri and Pradeep Nakhwarsquos twowheelerVeteran restaurateur Gauri Devidayal who runs The Table in Colaba and Mag St Cafe outposts across South Mumbai and Bandra points to a news report that states that Shah had left the Juhu bar at 130 am gone home and stepped out to get more The accident occurred four hours later ldquoThe bar should not be responsible for the action of a customer after she leaves the premisesrdquo she statesItrsquos not uncommon she says for her restaurantrsquos valet staff to drop off a guest home if they arenrsquot in a condition to drive or they call them a cab ldquoAs long aswe donrsquot serve alcohol to an underage patronhellip thatrsquos where a restaurantrsquos responsibility should end Placing more naka bandis across the city will certainly be a deterrent People should be afraid enough of the penal consequences of drinking and drivingrdquoSealing hospitality establishments she feels serves no one ldquoSo many people lose jobs closing bars also cuts down excise revenue A more mature longterm solution is the need of the hourrdquo she thinksKaveri and her husband Pradeep She had landed on the BMWrsquos bonnet and slipped under the carrsquos wheelsThe pressure on the hospitality industry has been mounting since May 19 when a drunk 17yearold in Pune driving a Porsche knocked down two motorbikeborne engineers on May 19 The two bars that had served him alcohol were promptly razed and a widespread crackdown ensued across Pune and MumbaiFollowing the Porsche crash at least 33 pubs were razed in Pune In Mumbai police raided more than 50 bars at least 12 such establishments were demolishedin MMR while notices were served to 40This is not the first time that demolition action has been taken and notices been served to eateries and bars In 2017 after a deadly fire at a pub in Kamala Mills municipal officers went on a demolition spree razing portions of 314 restaurants and bars across the city for violationsPolice heighten their drives against drink driving during festive seasons and weekends looking for inebriated motorists with the help of breathalysers Representation picPulling up a restaurant or bar for serving alcohol to those who get involved in a drink driving case is absurd says another restaurateur on condition of anonymity The excise department is serving notices for various issues including maintenance of the FLC foreign liquor certificate book detailing how much alcohol has been purchased and sold which has to be in filled every week He says ldquoThe responsibility cannot be on the person who is serving the alcohol itrsquos on the person whorsquos drinking If we had the right to deny we would do our part but we donrsquot That is something that we would like the government to enforcerdquoIn the US UK and some other countries this protection is provided in the form of the dram shop law It is a civil liability statute that makes bars liable for the harmful acts of its drunk patronsmdashincluding drink driving and brawlsmdashwhen the establishment has acted negligently in serving an already intoxicated customer more alcohol While this puts the onus on the pub it also empowers them to say no to the patronBut is it the barrsquos job to say ldquono morerdquo to an intoxicated customer Would such a law even work in India where binge drinking has been flagged as a problem afflicting nearly half the countryrsquos drinkers according to a government study in 2019 titled Magnitude of Substance abuse in India The study states that 43 per cent of alcohol users consume more than four drinks in a single sitting indicating heavy episodic drinking Pawan Shahri of Chrome Hospitality says he supports installing AIbased CCTV cameras if it gives bars immunity Bar owner Arijit Bose hopes India introduces training for safe service of alcohol Restaurateur Gauri Devidayal feels more naka bandis in the city may be a better solution AI CCTV may help tackle the problem of fake IDs says Karan Nohria founder of Oh So SillyThe same study also highlighted that many drinkers experienced problematic behaviours upon intoxication such as drunken brawls 268 per cent drinkers and road accidents 4 per centWorryingly a recent World Health Organisation WHO report notes a tendency of binge drinking among Indian teenagers between 15 and 19 years with a 71 per cent occurrence among male teens and 52 per cent among femalesldquoBartenders abroad undergo training to detect whether a person has had a certain number of drinks and what their blood alcohol level should be On that basis they serve or deny himher the next drink This does not happen in India Here if a person is drunk and you donrsquot hand him over the keys of their car they can file a police complaintrdquo says the restaurateurA group of young Mumbaikars on a cycle march against drinking and driving at Carter Road in Bandra in 2013 carry posters that read If Bar No Car File picGetty ImagesSenior bar consultant and entrepreneur Arijit Bose has undergone safety service for alcohol training ldquoAbroad bartenders as well as service personnel go through safety service for alcohol training along with acquiring health and hygiene certifications This should be introduced in India too I went to Australia for a twoday bartending stint I had to acquire a full certification for safe service of alcohol Itrsquos the same in CanadardquoIn 1999 turning away an intoxicated patron proved fatal for model Jessica Lal Manu Sharma son of a Haryana politician had shot Lalmdasha celebrity bar maid at a private party in Delhimdashafter she refused to serve him a drink as the bar had closedWelltrained bartenders are still rare in India and often expensive to hire says Bose ldquoOwners hire mixology and bar talent but not all of them are equipped to handle entitled guests Even managers face this Often guests namedrop or threaten to give a bad review Despite this bars and bar operating teams do keep an eye out and cut people off when possible or book them a driver or a cab But it is difficult to keep an eye out when the bar is packed A lot of times consumers leave the bar seeming okay but the alcohol hits them laterrdquo Bose explains suggesting that a collective effort is required towards guiding and training staff as well as consumers on responsible drinkingPranav Rungta vice president NRAIldquoBars and restaurants go to great lengths to safeguard guests and create a convivial environment so that people keep coming back and patronise the venue but one personrsquos carelessness can cause a ripple effect A shut down affects revenues and salaries Education at all levels is the keyrdquo Bose saysHowever most members of the hospitality industry we spoke to were against the introduction of a dram shop law saying it would only make it tougher for them to run their business ldquoToday more than ever it has become hard to run a barrdquo confesses a prominent restaurateur adding ldquoWe already have a zillion regulations and licences to keep up with Now with the recent drinking and driving cases people are scared The ease of doing business has vanishedrdquoPranav Rungta vice president of the National Restaurant Association of India speaks for the industry as a whole when he says that the organisation is against excessive regulation ldquoThe responsibility of policing is with the government not the private industry Excise laws in the state are archaic and draconian and need an overhaul firstrdquo he saysAdvocate Sujay Kantawala who specialises in criminal and indirect tax cases at the Bombay High Court says that such a law would never work in India ldquoHow would you even go about enforcing such a law here Even basic things like checking IDs for age proof is not being done Itrsquos hard running a restaurant or bar in Mumbai They cannot afford to lose business but that is what will happen if you bring in a law that says that after a customer has had X number of drinks a bar has to stop serving alcohol to them Customers will simply go to another bar and order more drinks there Bringing in a law like this will just be another reason for restaurants and bars to grease palms in order to keep trouble at bayrdquo says the legal expertMumbai Police say they regularly conduct surprise checks at pubs and restaurants to ensure compliance with the age criteria under the Maharashtra Prohibition Act 1949 and Bombay Foreign Liquor Rules 1953 ldquoWhenever we find violations of permit requirements or the age cap we forward the barrsquos details to the district collector who is authorised to take actionrdquo says an officerA beverage and spirits expert on condition of anonymity argues that the law would not work in India anyway since we have a different sense of service ldquoWe follow the lsquocustomer is kingrsquo approach I canrsquot imagine a 25yearold behind the bar denying a drink to a 40yearold Denying a drink is not necessarily an age thing a bartenderrsquos socioeconomic status will make him hesitate You donrsquot know how patrons will react We need a stricter drink and drive policy and vigilant naka bandis People should be petrified of driving under the influence of alcohol knowing that they will be caughtrdquoThe Traffic Police also conduct naka bandi and special drives using breath analysers to curb drink driving These drives are ramped up around weekends and festivals when incidents of drink driving go up as well Additional CP Traffic police M Ramkumar says ldquo20 FIRs have been registered in cases related to drink driving this year as of June 20 and 3773 offenders were fined a total of Rs 17 crore for driving under the influence of alcoholrdquoldquoIf we find that the offender is under 21 we also take down details of the concerned bars and pass them on to the local police who take further action as per the lawrdquo says another traffic copRestaurateurs argue that with pressure and accountability should come protection ldquoAbout three weeks ago the Excise department released a notification to the effect that if a patron drinks in your restaurant and goes out and commits an act of crime the bar owner will be liableHow the patron behaves after she has left the premises is not our responsibility Itrsquos the job of the state to maintain law and orderrdquo says a restaurateurA state excise department official however clarifies to midday that no new notification has been issued to hoteliers and pub owners threatening action The notification the being referred to specifically he clarifies concerns serving alcohol to minors ldquoNotifications and reminders are sent periodically informing hoteliers of the laws and the consequences of breaches For instance if someone allows an underage patron to drink hard liquor and that minor commits a crime we are authorised to take action as per the law This is standard procedurerdquoThe official explains that they are liable to take action if during routine weekly surprise checks at hospitality establishments they find minors drinking there ldquoIf a crime is committed strict action will be taken Bar and pub owners need not worry as long as they follow the rule bookrdquo says a senior officer of the excise departmentAccording to the official the department has granted permits to 1513 bars and pubs in Mumbai and they keep inspecting these to ensure there are no violations It is mandatory for the department to conduct surprise checks at bars and pubs three times a week especially on weekends when footfall is higher he says They could also carry out surprise checks based on specific information they may receive in the middle of the week Officials emphasise that the rule is clear liquor can only be served to individuals of age who possess a liquor permitThey also clarify to midday that there are no rules to take action against a person who is of legal age and consumes alcohol However the law allows for action against bars and pubs that violate said regulations ldquoIn cases where the age criteria are not followed by establishments we discover during a surprise check that liquor is served without a permit during We record the facts and submita file to the collector The collector is authorised to take action including imposing a fine of up to Rs 50000 In some cases where a crime has been committed by a person after consuming liquor at the premises the collector can temporarily seal the place or revoke the pubrsquos liquor licencerdquo says an officer of the excise departmentShowing laxity while following rules by establishments in a bid to not lose business is where the problem rests according to him ldquoThe managers of pubs with permits are instructed to maintain records of every patron but they often fail to comply In this particular case the pub staff only checked the ID of the person who booked the table where Mihir Shah was seated allowing the rest of the group entry without proper verification If a patron uses a fake ID to drink and subsequently commits a crime they can be charged with forgery by relevant authorities But for this pubs must maintain adequate recordsrdquo says the officialMumbaibased practising psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty says the problem is unethical parentingmdashallowing the child freedom and entitlement that could prove dangerous for someone else and then even offering to cover it up ldquoIs there a single bar in the city where you donrsquot see someone under 25 drink Obviously the authorities know they act when they willrdquoShetty also questions the logic behind separate age caps for beer and wine and hard liquor ldquoBeer and wine have lower alcohol content but no one drinks either in pegs People drink beer and wine by the bottle or glass If you drink a bottle of wine or three cans of beer you will be just as drunk as someone having downed a couple of pegs of whiskyrdquo he saysldquoIn an ideal world the police would be waiting outside bars with their breathalysers and would check drivers for blood alcohol content as soon as the carrsquos ignition is switched on But the police are already spread thin and overworkedrdquo he saysMeanwhile the state government says it is pressing on with the installation of AIbased CCTV cameras in pubs and bars in a bid to curb drink driving cases The excise department had set a 14day deadline for the task last month after the Porsche hitandrun case in Pune But restaurateurs say they are yet to receive any official notification on the matterldquoI read about this but we have not received an official directive yet Restaurants are a public place so if it helps maintain law and order this is doable It really depends on the execution If it is done without damaging current assets helps the cops get footage and the restaurant can get immunity in a case like this then might as well support them on thisrdquo says Chrome Hospitalityrsquos ShahriOthers remain sceptical ldquoWe are checking whether the government is indeed enforcing this mandate as there are many complexities involved in execution However I am sceptical about where the data will be shared and whether it may infringe on customersrsquo privacy I believe that while sharing CCTV footage of entrance and exit areas may be acceptable monitoring daytoday operations could compromise privacy If carried out well this measure helps both restaurants and the government address issues such as fake IDs especially since we currently lack a system to scan Aadhaar cards for legitimacyrdquo says Karan Nohria founder Oh So SillyThe AIbased CCTV surveillance programme is in a preliminary stage explains an excise official ldquoCurrently we are evaluating demos provided by service providers These systems will be installed at a few locations on a trial basis Once successful we will issue a tender and contracts can be awarded to service providers Hotels bars and pubs can then purchase these services from themrdquo says the officerldquoOnce the basic AI surveillance is successful we will consider implementing facial recognition cameras at entrances These cameras can help identify if a person is under 21 based and the information can be verified by the concerned officer during visits However this is currently under discussion with highranking officials in Maharashtrardquo the officer tells middayThe department already receives livestreams from several bars but it is not possible to manually monitor the thousands of feeds he says ldquoAI surveillance will provide notifications if a bar or pub is open beyond permitted time limits The cameras will focus on the bar counter and entrance so there is no question of invading anyonersquos privacyrdquo he assures71Percentage of male teens in India that have a tendency for bingedrinking as per WHO1513No of bars in Mumbai that currently have excise dept permitsGet your permitIn Maharashtra pubs and bars can issue alcohol permits to patrons These are also available online on the Maharashtra Government Excise Department website httpsaaplesarkarmahaonlinegovinen Alternatively permits can be procured from the Old Custom House in South Mumbai A oneday licence costs Rs 5 for foreign liquor and Rs 2 for country liquor An annual permit costs Rs 100 and a lifetime permit is available for Rs 1000Inputs by Debjani Paul and Apoorva Agashe