AIZAWL:
The tragic death of a 52-year-old woman from Aizawl triggered an outrage on social media in Mizoram, on July 12, with netizens linking her death to the police raids on her grape wine shop at Millennium Centre in Aizawl on May 27.
The deceased, Lalhriatpuii, who died on July 11 from a stroke, is said have developed depression that further led to deterioration of her health after Rs 22 lakh-worth Mizoram-produced grape wines were seized from her shop by the Mizoram excise and police department.
“After the police seized grape wines worth more than Rs 22 lakhs from her shop during the raids on May 27, she became so depressed that she even went to a psychiatrist. She complained of sleep deprivations and much more,” a well-known singer, who runs a garment shop next to hers, said.
Lalhriatpuii was running a flourishing wine store at the city’s largest shopping mall and all that suddenly stopped following the police’s surprise crackdown. Until now, wines made from Mizoram-grown grapes were freely sold in the supermarket.
After she was suddenly deprived of the livelihood which she had been running for more than ten years, the woman scouted for some other options and along with some friends went to Bangkok early this month to collect garments to be retailed in Aizawl. However, on her way back, she collapsed in a hotel toilet in Guwahati.
Sources said the doctors in Guwahati did not have much hope for her recovery and she died on her way back to brought to Aizawl at around 10:00am on July 11.
When news of Lalhriatpuii’s death broke, netizens demanded justice for her while some went to the extent of demanding excise and narcotics minister Dr K Beichhua’s resignation from his post, owning moral responsibility.
Reacting to the outrage, a senior official of the state excise and narcotics department maintained that there should be evidence to prove that Lalhriatpuii was in good health before her shop was raided by the department officials on May 27.
“We cannot make any statement unless there is proof that she died due to depression after her shop was raided,” the official said, however, admitting that the officials did not seize any whiskey, except grape wine during the raids in the particular shop.
The May 27 crackdown on Mizoram-made wines by the state excise and narcotics department had already triggered angry reactions in the state. Though the excise and narcotics officials had initially claimed to have conducted the raids following reports of foreign beers and liquors being freely sold in the shopping mall, there was no evidence of seizure of any such contraband from any of the shops raided.
Later, they maintained that grape wines too were illegal under the Mizoram Liquor Prohibition Act, 2019, and had to be seized.
The grape wines produced in the state were manufactured at two wineries in Champhai town and Hnahlan village of Northeastern Champhai district. Since 2003-04, close to 800 families in the Hnahlan and Champhai areas of eastern Mizoram have been planting Bangalore Blue varieties of grapes under the National Technology Mission. Bangalore Blue can’t be consumed as fruits, but is good for making red port and sacramental wine.
Champhai Grape Growers society had threatened a stir unless the seized wines were returned to the owners. Many felt that the Mizoram government is acting under pressure from the powerful churches and the Young Mizo Association, the most influential organisation in the state.
Earlier, there was a proposal to allow making of wine from grapes with 5 per cent alcohol content under the Mizoram Liquor Prohibition Rules, however, the drafting committee on January 24 this year, after deliberate discussion, proposed not to allow grape wines, as “wine can be abused just like hard drinks”.
In 2007, the Mizoram government had relaxed the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1995, allowing the manufacturing of wine up to 14 per cent alcohol content.