As 10-year-old UP girl joins hunger protest against liquor shop, administration relents
A hunger protest against a liquor shop at Kaulara Kalan village in UP’s Agra district ended on Saturday after the administration agreed to the villagers’ demands to shift the shop.
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The protest against the liquor shop began after it allegedly led to several cases of domestic violence in the village, according to a local villager.
When 10-year-old Anshika Sikarwar announced last week that she would join the indefinite hunger protest against a liquor shop at her village in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district, her father, Bunty, disapproved. “But she refused to listen and said that she too would neither drink water nor consume food,” said Bunty, a farmer.
Two days later, on April 19, the Class 4 student’s efforts paid off when the district administration agreed to the villagers’ demands to shift the shop from its current location at the entrance of Kaulara Kalan village.
“The liquor shop has been open at that location for four to five years, and the locals have been protesting against it for a long time. This time, I have told them that we will shift the shop to a place suggested by them, and till then, the shop will continue to function. The shop contractor has been issued directives,” Neeraj Kumar Dwivedi, Excise Officer, Agra district, said.
The villagers had been on an indefinite protest since April 1, demanding that the shop selling country-made liquor be shifted from its location, as it was allegedly becoming a nuisance for women walking along the stretch.
The protest gained traction after Anshika joined the agitation when Bunty’s health started deteriorating.
On Saturday, Babita Chauhan, the chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh State Commission for Women, convinced Anshika to end her agitation and offered her juice to drink.
“I have issued directives to Abhay Singh, the sub-divisional magistrate at Fatehabad in Agra, and officials of the UP excise department to immediately start the process of shifting the shop as soon as possible. I will take up the issue with the highest level of the UP government,” Chauhan added.
The protest against the liquor shop began after it allegedly led to several cases of domestic violence in the village, according to a local villager.
“Men would consume liquor from there and fight with their spouses and children when they requested them not to do so. We hoped that the shop would be relocated this year, but it was re-allotted at the same place, forcing us to stage a sit-in protest to press for our long-pending demand,” the villager added.
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