Anti-liquor activist Nandhini and her father Anandan were granted bail by the Tirupattur judicial magistrate court in Madurai on Tuesday. The bail was granted when they were taken to the court for extension of remand.
Nandhini and Anandan were arrested on June 27 for contempt of court on the orders of the Judicial Magistrate court. They were remanded and lodged in Madurai central jail even though Nandhini’s wedding was scheduled to be held on July 5.
The court ordered her arrest on June 27, when she had appeared in court in relation to a case dating back to 2014. As per the details of the case, Nandhini and Anandan had protested in front of a TASMAC outlet in 2014 and distributed pamphlets in Tirupattur bus stand. They had also allegedly staged a dharna when the police had told them to distribute pamphlets without disturbing the public.
The police had booked the duo on charges of abusing the police and preventing public servants from discharging their duties. When Nandhini had appeared in court on June 27, she reportedly asked the court if liquor was a medicine, a food item, or an intoxicant. She had also allegedly argued that according to section 328 of the IPC, selling intoxicants through TASMAC was a crime. Despite the magistrate telling the duo to not raise questions that are irrelevant to the proceedings, they allegedly continued to question the government and the court. The court then initiated suo motu proceedings for contempt of court against the duo and ordered their arrest.
Nandhini, who has been an anti-liquor activist since her school days, was supposed to get married on July 5. Her arrest and subsequent remand, within days of her impending wedding, caused social media outrage which led to #ReleaseNandhini trending on June 28 and 29. After she was remanded, the magistrate offered to release the duo on bail, if they produced sureties.