Kallakurichi hooch tragedy: How can you give a huge sum of ₹10 lakh each to 65 families, Madras High Court asks T.N.

The Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan on Friday, July 5, 2024 asked how the Tamil Nadu Government could give away a huge amount of ₹10 lakh each to the families of 65 persons who died in the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy.

Presiding over the first Division Bench along with Justice Mohammed Shaffiq, the ACJ said, the government might be justified in awarding such a compensation if lives had been lost in some accident but not for those who drank spurious liquor.

The persistent problem of toxic liquor in Tamil Nadu

The Bench directed a government counsel to take instructions within two weeks on reconsidering the compensation announced by the State. The direction was issued on a public interest litigation petition filed against granting compensation to hooch consumers.

A. Mohamed Ghouse of Chennai had filed the PIL petition stating that those who had died in Kallakurichi were neither freedom fighters nor those who had died for a social cause for their families to be awarded with such a huge sum as compensation from public funds.