Many broke curfew rules but not all challaned

New Delhi: While the lack of civic sense in some was highlighted by their excuse for breaking the weekend curfew — such as one man out to buy liquor who said he was helping the government by contributing to revenue. But thousands of others failed to comply with the nitty-gritty details of the guidelines and stepped out — some to attend the funeral of a loved one, others to get medicines or travelling out of the city.

Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava, who was taking stock of the situation, has directed cops enforcing the curfew to be firm but polite while checking people and vehicles.

"Some were going for buying liquor but some were having genuine needs but they did not make movement passes," an official said.

Many people were carrying essential commodities on vehicles, some were carrying medical prescriptions, some were going to hospitals, railway stations or going to work. "We verified their reasons and after all verification, they were allowed to go. Today was the first day, we gave all possible help to them," one official said.

Most of these curfew breakers told cops that they did not know about the weekend curfew and guidelines. "We came through many distressed people on streets, yes they have genuine reasons," another official said.

In different districts, it was seen that people who did not have movement passes, were showing them medical prescriptions or railway tickets. Some people had lost their dear ones. "Sir, I have gone for treatment," a man was seen talking to cops. He showed his medicines and the cops let him go.

There were also instances where people had booked train tickets months ago and they were going to railway

stations. "We did not know that weekend curfew will be announced today," a person in an autorickshaw told the cop. He showed his ticket and was allowed to go. "All the genuine people or those in distress were allowed to proceed. We remain sensitive to the requirements of the citizens and try our best to help them," said DCP (South) Atul Kumar Thakur.

There were also cases where people violated lockdown for no reason. Some were going to buy liquor, some were going to buy vegetables and some were roaming with marriage cards. DCP (South East) RP Meena said violators were booked under relevant sections of law.

SN Shrivastava, Commissioner of Police, Delhi visited various parts of Delhi on Saturday to take stock of the execution of weekend curfew orders. During interaction with the field functionaries, the CP said strict action should be taken against those found willfully disobeying the weekend curfew instructions.

According to Delhi Police data, 1,500 calls were received on their helpline number related to movement restrictions during the weekend. More than 360 cases have been registered and 164 people arrested for violations of the ongoing weekend curfew imposed by the Delhi government. Police said that 2,432 challans were issued to people for violations of the curfew.