After much back and forth and waiting, it seems like the Delhi High Court might finally be moving towards lowering the legal drinking age in Delhi from 25 to either 18 or 21.
As per reports, the Delhi HC has sent a notice to the government on a plea requesting that the legal age for drinking alcohol in Delhi be lowered from the current age that has been fixed.
The plea does so on the basis that the current age limit of 25 years is discriminatory towards Delhi residents as other states have a far lower age limit for legal alcohol consumption.
Kush Kalra filed a PIL (public interest litigation) against Section 23 of the Delhi Excise Act, 2009 that fixed the legal age of drinking alcohol in Delhi. The bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari have requested the Excise department of Delhi government to give their opinion on this PIL and the subsequent law in question.
Why The Drinking Age Needs To Be Lowered
According to the plea submitted by the Delhi HC, it says that the age limit is “discriminatory against residents of Delhi as compared to citizens residing in other states, where the legal age for consuming alcohol is less than 25 years”.
And to be honest, when compared to Goa where the age limit is 21 and Uttar Pradesh where it is only 18 in order to legally drink alcohol, the 25 year barrier seems quite high.
The PIL also stated that this results in young people travelling to out of the state in order to drink alcohol which is not at all wrong. Many young people from college or who are below 25, make trips and excursions to other states where the drinking age limit is low in order to drink alcohol.
This could be dangerous for the people who after getting inebriated could be vulnerable to crimes like robbery and such.
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Lack Of Respect For The Law
Many young people also resort to buying alcohol from small vendors and wine and alcohol shops where they don’t necessarily check for ID or stop someone from buying drinks.
This is a blatant disregard for the law and only ends up disrespecting it further by finding such loopholes.
Lowering of the age would allow people to drink in safe and supervised areas without flouting the law or putting themselves at risk.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, Live Law
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