Youth Paid With Their Lives For Calling Out A Menace, Claim Families

KALYANAKUMAR (50), a daily wager, was lying near his house at Muttam in the district that night, heavily sloshed after consuming the liquor allegedly smuggled into the village from Puducherry's Karaikal.

- ANTONY FERNANDO @Mayiladuthurai

KALYANAKUMAR (50), a daily wager, was lying near his house at Muttam in the district that night, heavily sloshed after consuming the liquor allegedly smuggled into the village from Puducherry's Karaikal. His neighbours attempted to wake him up and tell him the dreadful news. But he never came to his senses till morning, when he finally learnt his elder son K Harish (20) had been stabbed to death by an inebriated group.

"My son was growing frustrated seeing his father and his uncle drinking all the time, not earning income and abusing family members. He wanted the liquor menace to end. We never knew he would pay such a price," K Rama (40), Harish's mother cried.

Both Kalyanakumar and his brother Vijayakumar stopped drinking, out of guilt, at least temporarily since.

"Harish and I were part of a group called 'Muttam Ilaignar Ani' (Muttam youth group) which voiced for social causes. We complained to various officials in the revenue and police departments about illegal liquor smuggling. They did not act," said a youth on condition of anonymity.