Kallakurichi hooch tragedy: Madras High Court seeks action taken report from State

The Madras High Court Friday directed the Tamil Nadu government to file a report detailing steps taken following the death of 47 people in Kallkurichi district due to the consumption of spurious liquor..A bench of Justice D Krishnakumar and K Kumaresh Babu also asked the State government to explain why the authorities failed to prevent the tragedy despite a similar incident having taken place last year in neighbouring districts.The bench noted that weeks before the incident in Kallakurichi, local newspapers and a YouTuber had carried reports on spurious liquor being illegally made available in the area..The Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by AIADMK’s legal wing secretary IS Inbadurai seeking a CBI probe into the incident.Inbadurai’s counsel, advocate D Selvam, told the Court that a specific motion had been moved by AIADMK MLA from Kallakurichi, M Senthilkumar on March 29, 2023 regarding the sale of spurious liquor in the area. Yet, the State government had failed to take any action, he told the Court..TN Advocate General (AG) PS Raman told the Court that the State has already transferred the probe into the incident to the CBCID. Four persons have been arrested and several police personnel had been suspended, he said. “Right now, all our efforts are concentrated at saving lives. We will look into the lapses to see who are the officers who failed to act. As far as the allegations made by the petitioner are concerned, let me say that bigger tragedies have occurred earlier when their (AIADMK) was in power in the State,” Raman said..However, the bench told the AG that this was not the time to engage in such banter.“This issue cannot be taken lightly by the government. This is about human lives. We want to know what action was taken by the State since last year when a similar incident had taken place. And what is to be done about the police and district officials who failed to act?” the Court said.The Court then directed the TN government to file a “detailed action report” by June 26, listing out measures that were taken by the State pursuant to the motion moved by the MLA and also the steps taken following last year’s incident.