Seven-year-old A. Akash from Padur village under Kancheepuram district staged a protest asking for the closure of a Tasmac liquor outlet in his village. He arrived at the venue in his school uniform, sat on a road on Wednesday under the scorching sun, blocking the traffic in protest against the liquor shops being shifted into residential areas due to the Supreme Court's recent ban on liquor outlets along the State and National Highways.
Apart from this, the schoolboy was carrying a placard with words “ Kudiyai vidu, padikka vidu” (give up liquor, allow us to study).
Speaking to some reporters, he said that families really suffer because of the earning member’s drinking habit. “They do not have money for their children's education because they spend everything on alcohol," he added. Akash walked all alone from his home, holding the placard, to the the liquor shop, which was about 1 km away. Midway, after he was stopped by a police officer and asked to go back, he just sat down in the middle of the road, in protest and started reading his school books for sometime.
It may be recalled that police booked cases against women and other residents of the village for staging protests last Saturday. After the protests on Saturday, nine people were arrested and nearly 122 people were named in the FIR for ransacking the shop building.
