Chennai: #ReleaseNandini is trending big on social media with several supporters demanding the release of anti-liquor activist Nandhini and her father R. Anandan, remanded by a magistrate in Tirupattur who held they committed contempt of court after she questioned the court if alcohol was a food or medicine and if it was not a crime under IPC 328 for the government-owned Tasmac to sell liquor.
When the father and his fiery daughter appeared before magistrate Samudeeswari Praba in connection with a 2014 case registered against the two for challenging the police trying to restrain them from distributing pamphlets and campaigning against the Tasmac liquor, Nandhini raised the question whether it was right for Tasmac to sell liquor. The magistrate tried to restrain her by reminding that the question was not relevant to the proceedings in the court, the young campaigner persisted.
When the magistrate held that the duo committed contempt of court and ordered they be remanded till July 9, there was no sign of anguish or fear in Nandhini’s face; she did not seem disturbed by the fact that her wedding had been fixed on July 5 and she would be in jail on that day.
Jail is nothing new for the tough anti-liquor campaigner and her father. Both have undertaken several public agitations and campaigns opposing Tasmac liquor and the government ‘hoodwinking’ the people with freebies instead of providing free education to everyone.
The news of the incarceration of the father and daughter has angered many among the youth, who have taken to social media in a big way demanding that the two must be released without further delay and her marriage should go through. It remains to be seen whether the administration would relent.
