Thirty days after the ban, Kumar claimed that the crime was down 27% , according to his analysis of crime data from April 2016 and April 2015.
Nine months–or 270 days–into the ban, an analysis of Bihar Police crime data, reveals that cognizable crime–which the police can investigate without a magistrate’s order–rose 13% between April and October 2016, from 14,279 in April to 16,153 in October (latest available data).
In other words, the liquor ban does not correlate with a drop in crime, a primary reason for the new law, which came into being despite the Patna High Court holding it violative of the Constitution because it denied citizens their right to privacy under Article 21.
Conviction of criminals in Bihar had declined 68%, from 14,311 in 2010 to 4,513 in 2015, and cognizable crimes rose 42% over the same period, as reported in May 2016.
