As in some other parts of the State, women and other protesters intensified their protests against liquor shops, breaking thousands of beer and hard liquor bottles from a shop in the Betalghat area of the district. The Betalghat police remained mute spectators as the protesters smashed many crates of liquor bottles on the road.
In the mountainous area of Betalghat about 45 kilometres by road from Nainital, women have been protesting for some days against the opening of a licensed liquor shop in the area.
Irked at the authorities for opening the licensed liquor shop despite their protest, the women gathered on the weekend and smashed several crates of beer and liquor bottles.
The women protesters smashed the alcohol bottles on the wall and on the ground while the police remained a mute spectator as the protesters took the liquor bottles in their own hands. later, the policemen cleared the empty liquor crates from the site.
The local villagers state that after the closure of licensed liquor shops from along the highways, outlets are being set up near their “liquor affected” areas to which they objected strongly. Apart from the locals, the police state that they had received information about the incident late and that most of it had already taken place by the time the police arrived at the scene.
The Nainital senior superintendent of police Janmejay Khanduri states that the police team reached the site as soon as information about the protest was received. After this, the police had registered a case regarding the incident, he added.