Malvani hooch tragedy: Where alcohol runs like water and women can't mourn their husbands

As many as 64 persons have lost their lives in just 48 hours in the slums of Malwani in Malad, a north Mumbai suburb after consuming spurious liquor, but no big ticket politician is yet reach in what is essentially Harlem of Mumbai.

Residents here are aware of the apathy of the rest of the world and accept it as a matter of fact. They are not afraid to tell you that you don’t care. “Do you come here ever? Someone dies and people come running. What are you asking me? Why they drink? They have nothing else to do , that’s why. Mothers works as house maids and fathers drink,” says Govind, 16. He doesn’t want to tell his surname. It doesn’t matter to him.

Govind isn’t being brash or arrogant. Reeta, sister-in-law of Laxman Ampure, one of the victims of the hooch tragedy, shares the same thought. “It may be new for you, but alcohol runs like water here. Everyone here drinks. They always drink. Whatever they can afford in the income, they drink. Who can we blame? Only God has to be blamed, “ she says.

Ramesh Etkar, 43, Laxman Ampure, 40 and Hari, who were brought to Laxmi Nagar, at 3 in the afternoon were labourers, who from an early age of 16, had  started consuming alcohol. One of the neighbours, on the condition of anonymity said "They all used to sit at Raju's,adda. He used to supply all the alcohol. It was cheap, much cheaper than the desi daaru.

Where some blame the stress, some feel the lack of regulation and inspection by the police and civil authorities is the main cause of the accident. Sunil Shinde,a local activist of Nationalist Congress Party, said, "When RR Patil was there, haatbhatti , the common name for this kind of highly intoxicating liquor, was banned. Yahan ki police aur sarkaar ka aashirwad jab tak hai, hum kya kar sakte hain? (What can we do if the local police and government turns a blind eye to the menace?) The least that the government can do now is compensate well their families." said Shinde.

Hari, who recently got married, has a 1-year old daughter. Pinky, the victim's wife, was barely able to contain herself, laid next to her husbands body and demanded justice. She said "I will kill myself. Who will take care of my daughter? The person who sits to a dead body of a beloved can only understand what I'm going through. I will kill myself."

Relatives begged for help from the other media people present at the scene. Living in a 10X10 shanty, Hari had started to make new plans, he had promised his wife a new house. "With the baby and everything, he wanted to make things better for the family, now what will poor Pinky do? Where will she go?" said Reeta. 

Police have started their investigations and are now blaming the locals for not coming out and stating before them. “They are risking their own lives by not doing so,” says Jagdish Palande, one of the police officers. Ask him about residents’ complaints that the police never came here and he gets angry. “Please don’t ask such questions. Yeh sab uparwala mere boss ke boss logon ko malum rahega (Only the boss of my senior can tell you),” he says.

Did he know about Raju Langda, the prime accused in the case, before? “We have come here to manage the crowd. We don’t come here otherwise,” he said.

As the wives of these three men mourn the demise of their husbands, what awaits is a tomorrow, which is as uncertain as their deaths. "Do you know that they have to get back to their jobs tomorrow? She will go to work! She told me, she will. A woman cant’ even mourn her husband’s death here,”  said a neighbour sobbing before getting back to consoling Pinky.

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