Teens, take note. You may enter pubs but you may not be able to quaff that favourite beer of yours, if police implement rules barring serving of liquor to teenagers.

In the light of a survey by Assocham revealing that teen drinking had gone up in the city as compared to other cities, police officials told TOI that they cannot stop teens from entering pubs or bars and consuming alcohol, as there was no law that barred them from drinking. But police could definitely invoke the law to stop liquor joints from serving alcohol to youngsters.

Additional commissioner of police (law and order) Sunil Kumar told TOI that the Karnataka Excise Act prohibits bars and pubs from serving alcohol to persons below the age of 21.

“If police learn about a particular bar or pub serving alcohol to persons below the age of 21, we can detain the persons concerned and recommend cancellation of their licence,” he said. “We’ll carry out surprise raids on pubs and bars to check the age of the drinkers.”

But police acknowledged that given the ambiguities in the law, they can do nothing if a youngster consumes alcohol. Only the serving of liquor to youngsters in pubs is illegal, they said, adding that if teenagers consume alcohol at home, there is nothing they could do.