Tamil Nadu: Boy Kills Self To Stop Father From Drinking, Urges State To Close Tasmac Shops

Upset over his father’s alcohol abuse, a 17-year-old from Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, committed suicide by hanging himself from a bridge on May 2. Police identified the deceased as M Dinesh Nallasivan who called himself “Dinesh MBBS” as he was an aspiring doctor. He ended his life as he had to take care of the family because his father was an alcoholic.

Dinesh had completed his class XII and was preparing for the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET). He was the eldest of the three sons of S Madasamy, a labourer in Kerala. According to News18, his mother died nine years ago and his father remarried another woman.

Police recovered a suicide note from his bag where he blamed his father and the Tasmac liquor shops for his death.

“Appa (dad), don’t do my last rites. Only then will my soul rest in peace. At least, from now, don’t drink, appa. Let us see if the chief minister closes down Tasmac liquor shops in Tamil Nadu. If not, my spirit will destroy the shops,” the note in Tamil read.

His body was sent to the Tirunelveli Medical College for postmortem. Villagers from Dinesh’s district also urged the Chief Minister to close all Tasmac shops.

What are Tasmac shops?

Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) is a company owned by the Government of Tamil Nadu, which has a monopoly over wholesale and retail vending of alcoholic beverages in the state. It controls the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) trade in Tamil Nadu.

TASMAC was established in 1983 by Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran (MGR) for wholesale vending of alcohol in Tamil Nadu. When Jayalalitha was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, she ordered the closure 500 Tasmac stores. In 2017, when Edappadi K Palaniswami was sworn in as Chief Minister, he also ordered the closure of 500 Tasmac shops. In reality, there are 4,800 Tasmac shops in the state.

Many people from villages have staged various protests demanding the closure of these shops as they claim that such easy access to alcohol was a bane. Yet, despite many protests, the state government is yet to take any action.