Chennai: Coming down heavily on state government’s liquor policy, Madras High Court Justice N. Kirubakaran said that it was shameful that government itself was engaged in selling alcohol in shops.
Delivering the special address after releasing a book authored by advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam in Chennai on Sunday, Justice N. Kirubakaran said that alcohol is the root cause of evils in society including rape and sexual abuse of women and children. Women and children will be safe only when alcohol is eradicated from the state. He noted that alcohol is like a monster and is the primary cause of degradation of values in the institutions of family and society. People will enjoy peaceful lives only when alcohol is eradicated from the state.
He recalled that former Chief Minister Rajaji had introduced prohibition in the then Madras Presidency in 1937. Those days only one or two persons were alcoholic in a village. Nowadays, only one or two are teetotalers in the village. A large number of people, including college students and school children are addicted to alcohol, he said.
Talking about degradation of values in the family, the judge said that the joint family system offered a mix of human feelings and experiences and prepared youngsters for challenges in society. Love and affection are lost in the nuclear family which emerged following the disintegration of the joint family. Of late, in the nuclear family, while the father is busy with the internet, the mother glued to the television and son to the cell phone. They are wedded to machines and hence there is no bond among them, he noted.
The minds of people are polluted just as water and air in the country. Incidents of rape have doubled in the past decade, mainly due to erosion of family values.
“Women battling domestic issues in court tell me that the parents of their husband were the primary problem. Violence against women and children has gone up mainly because of lack of love, affection and supervision by elders in families,” he said.
He said that domestic and sexual harassment are reflections of personality and psychological disorders. Though India had the dubious distinction of having the maximum number of persons with psychological disorders, he said that the nation does not have enough counsellors and psychiatrists.
Senior Congress leader and former MP Peter Alphonse said that judicial activism is a reality now. Justice N. Kirubakaran released the book, ‘Aluvathu Alagalla Penne’, a compilation of legislation relating to harassment of women and children. Former judge, Madras high court, Justice K.N. Bhasa received the first copy of the book. A large number of advocates attended the function.
