Alcohol is behind many offences and violence. According to a study, excessive consumption of alcohol has the ability to lower inhibitions, impair a person’s judgement and increase the risk of aggressive behaviour which is why alcohol-related violence and crime are on the rise in our country. And our state capital is no exception. Bhubaneswar has registered a rise in the number of criminal activities due to alcoholism.
Alcohol and anger can lead to domestic violence. Ghatakia incident is the latest example of this. The accused identified as Sanjit Das in an inebriated state killed his wife Saraswati by slitting her throat. He even did not even spare his six-year old daughter and attacked her fatally. She was rushed to a private hospital by the neighbours who informed police about the gruesome incident. Later, Sanjit was arrested when he was busy consuming liquor and forwarded to court.
Thankfully, the accused did not do any harm to his five-day old newborn daughter. At a time when Sanjit’s six-year old daughter is battling for her life in the hospital, future of Sanjit’s four-day old daughter has become a question mark.
While Saraswati was a nurse, Sanjit had no income. He used to depend on Saraswati for his expenses. Meanwhile, Sanjit held birth of second daughter the reason behind his gruesome act.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Pratik Singh said, “Excess of anything is bad. Excessive consumption of alcohol often leads to violence. On December 24, 2019, a notorious drug peddler gunned down Anil Jena, a youth of Sarakantara area under Khandagiri police limits in Bhubaneswar for opposing his illicit trade. A woman was killed by her son over the same issue in May,2022.”
“To contain such activities, we are taking action against drug peddlers. Besides, we are rehabilitating habitual drunkards through our programme ‘Dreams’ as part of our efforts to reduce the crime graph”, he added.
Doctor Sarmistha Priyadarshini said, “We do provide medicines which won’t attract mind towards liquor. Initial five-seven days remain very hard for patients. It often leads into depression among habitual offenders. We have to take extra care of patients in those times.”
Health experts are of the opinion that habitual drunkards will have to seek doctors’ advice to get rid of the practice. Regular intake of alcohol leads to depression and mental instability. If one will take medicines prescribed by doctors regularly, he can be free from alcohol consumption in seven days.
Ratnamanjari, a resident of Bhubaneswar said “The state government is not putting curb on liquor consumption as it is huge generating revenue from it. Police hardly do anything except penalising the alcohol consumers before setting them free. “