One of the cyber cafes that was allegedly violating the police guidelines. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Cases were slapped on two cyber cafes in central Calcutta on Wednesday for not following the guidelines laid down by police.

During raids on Tuesday night, officers of New Market police station saw that the two cyber cafes were not recording names, addresses, phone numbers and other details of customers. The identity proofs of the customers were also not being checked.

Ten other cyber cafes in the police station area were trying to adhere to the norms, said an officer of the police station.

“The cases were lodged under section 188 of the IPC, which pertains to disobedience of an order promulgated by a public servant. We are looking for the owners of the cafes,” added the officer.

Early this year, the police commissioner had issued an order laying down the norms for cyber cafés. It is mandatory for a cyber cafe owner to maintain a register with particulars of the customers, the computer assigned to them and the duration of their stay. The owners must also verify the details with identity proofs produced by customers.

There are about 600 cyber cafes with trade licences issued by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. Many more cafes operate without licence, according to the police.

“When you know the details of cyber café customers, the computers they used and for how long, it is easy to track down cyber criminals. This is very important at a time when cyber cafes are being used for various illegal activities,” said deputy commissioner (headquarters) Vineet Goyel.

“There was a similar crackdown on eight cyber cafes in the southern part of Calcutta recently,” he added.