Nearly four years after a hooch tragedy ripped through villages in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district, killing more than 100 people, families of the dead say justice remains incomplete.
For them, a recent court conviction has reopened wounds that never quite healed.
The renewed attention follows a January 17 verdict by a local court in Aligarh, which convicted a liquor smuggler for supplying methanol-laced alcohol during the 2021 incident.
The poisonous brew claimed 106 lives across several villages. While the court held the accused guilty, the quantum of punishment is yet to be announced and is scheduled for Tuesday.
The tragedy unfolded in the summer of 2021, at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, when access to healthcare was already stretched and livelihoods were fragile.
Locals and activists say the impact fell hardest on the poor and marginalised, many of whom depended on daily wages and had little social security to fall back on.
In Karsua village, which lost at least 10 residents, the scars are still visible. Ritessh Kumar, the village pradhan, said tracing affected families years later reveals the scale of damage the deaths left behind.
“Most surviving family members are so downtrodden and emotionally crushed that they are hardly in a position to articulate their trauma and are merely struggling to survive,” he said.
Kumar said several families were unable to pursue legal proceedings on their own and had to authorise relatives to represent them in court. The emotional toll, combined with poverty and fear, pushed many into silence.
One of the families Kumar helped identify was that of Kapil, 35, who lost both his 60-year-old father, Jaipal, and his 40-year-old cousin, Sunil, after they consumed spurious liquor. The double loss shattered two households at once.
Kapil said both families received ex gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh each. “This amount is hardly enough to sustain families who are not even in a position to earn a living,” he said.
For Kapil, the deaths were not an accident but the result of a wider system that failed. He alleged a nexus between the liquor mafia, businessmen who supplied toxic chemicals, and officials who looked the other way.
“Unless all three are made to bear the financial burden of supporting the survivors, justice will not be complete merely by sending a few people to jail,” he said.
Similar anger is echoed across other villages. In Cherat, about 20 km from the district headquarters, nearly 10 people died in the tragedy. Residents say the passage of time has brought neither relief nor closure.
Several political and social activists in Aligarh claim the actual death toll was higher than official figures.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, dozens of people were arrested, including alleged liquor mafia kingpins. Family members acknowledge that action was swift.
They credit the then senior superintendent of police, Kalanidhi Naithani, for acting firmly despite what they describe as political pressure. “It was reassuring that no member of the liquor mafia escaped arrest at that time,” a relative said.
But years later, families say the system has lost momentum. Tejveer Chauhan, a lawyer and social activist who assisted the victims’ families, said several liquor contractors who were jailed after the incident are now out on bail.
“This is unfair. The compensation of Rs 5 lakh is grossly inadequate for families that lost their sole breadwinners,” he said.
For many households, the compensation was exhausted within months, spent on medical bills, funerals, debts and daily survival. Widows, elderly parents and children dropped out of school are common sights in the affected villages.
Santosh Chauhan, who lost his brother Manoj, said the focus should not remain limited to those who brewed or sold the liquor.
“This tragedy could not have occurred without the connivance of officials. Unless those who enabled this network are also punished, justice will remain incomplete,” he said.
The court’s conviction has brought back memories families had tried to suppress. Instead of closure, it has stirred anger and grief, reminding them of what they lost and what they believe the state still owes them.
Families and activists continue to demand higher compensation and strict action against all those allegedly involved. For them, justice is not a single verdict but a process that must address accountability, livelihood and dignity.