Women ransack a liquor shop near Kalinga Studio on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 6: Residents of Bharatpur village, mostly women, today ransacked two liquor shops at Ghatikia, about 15km from here, and beat up a couple, who owned one of those.

Employees of another shop, however, retaliated against the attack.

One of the damaged outlets is a licensed foreign liquor off shop, while the other is an illicit country liquor shop. The mob tied the couple, who own the illicit country liquor shop, to a tree and pelted them with eggs.

Mahendra Mahakud and his wife Santi have allegedly been running the illicit liquor shop for more than six months. The villagers were angry with the couple as they felt that liquor was responsible for all kinds of evils in their area. They even alleged that a person from their village had died after drinking liquor from this shop two days ago. “Youths of our village have turned into addicts and their drinking habit often leads to domestic violence,” said Sarojini Mahanta of Bharatpur.

After beating up couple, the mob targeted the licensed liquor shop, about 100m from the country liquor joint.

However, employees of the licensed shop retaliated against the attack with sticks. A woman was injured in the attack. This intensified the brawl and the women damaged the shop and beat up its employees.

“Both the shops were a major cause of concern for us. People drink here openly and pass lewd remarks at girls and women passing by,” alleged Niru Marandi, another local resident.

Khandagiri police rushed to the spot and tried to bring the situation under control. But stiff resistance by the women forced the police to call for reinforcements. The police said the couple running the country liquor had earlier been arrested.

Excise officials, however, apprehend revenue loss if such incidents recur. “How can the villagers ransack a licensed shop? This will result in revenue loss and encourage the sale of spurious liquor,” said an excise official.