Madras High Court pulls up state govt on Tasmac shops

Chennai: Slamming the police and prosecutors for carpet-bombing the anti-liquor protesters as ‘vishamigal’ (anti-social elements), the Madras High Court on Friday showed displeasure at the insensitive handling of the agitations against the relocation of the Tasmac shops by the authorities over the last couple of months.

Hearing a batch of bail petitions from 21 persons arrested for agitating against the relocation of a Tasmac shop at Thirumullaivoyal, about 25 km north of Chennai in Thiruvallur district on April 21, a Division Bench comprising Justices N. Kirubakaran and V. Parthiban was visibly taken aback when it was mentioned from the government side that the people involved in the agitation were not genuinely affected locals but vishambigal (anti-social elements).   

Pointing out that the protesters included women and children, Justice N. Kirubakaran asked the Additional Advocate General K. Venkataramani if it was right to brand all those agitating as vishamigal. “Will you call them anti-social elements? There is a limit to twisting facts relating to an incident. And there’s a limit to accusing people of a crime. We are seeing the TV news bulletins every day. Police is only for protecting the people and not for protecting Tasmac”, said the humane judge known for several pro-people orders over the years.

Justice Kirubakaran pointed out that people were agitating out of anger and frustration as several families had been ruined due to alcohol addiction. While there can be no difference of opinion that agitations should be sans violence, police and authorities should take into account the genuine feelings of the people, he said.

Including the state director general of police and Tasmac managing director as respondents, the Court posed eight questions to the government and posted the case for further hearing on June 27.

The court wanted to know from the government the number of agitations that had taken place against Tasmac shops in the state during the last two months, the names of political parties that took part in those protests, if there was violence in any of those demonstrations, whether the police resorted to lathi-charge and if so, the number of people injured.

The court also sought information on the number of Tasmac shops relocated after the Supreme Court order to shut down the liquor shops near highways. “How many shops were relocated in residential areas? Did the locals, particularly women, agitate?” asked the court, while also seeking details of the public property damaged during such protests.