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| A man at a cyber café in Patna. Telegraph picture |
Patna, March 29: The hullabaloo regarding tightening the noose around the so-called errant cyber cafés seems to have died down.
With the police slapping all the cyber cafés in Patna with a dos and don’ts list and giving them a week’s deadline to fall in line, the date has already passed. The police have not taken any action nor organised any fresh checks.
On March 10, the Patna police giving a seven-day deadline to the cafés to bring about certain changes in their shops to control criminal activities. These included setting up at least two CCTV cameras, one at the entrance and the other inside the cafés and opaque cabins to be replaced with transparent ones. Also, it was said the cafés owners should note down the customers’ personal details and contact number and check them immediately before allowing them to use the systems.
The deadline ended on March 17.
The regulations were first spoken of on February 24 when the police started raids that continued till March 10 when the deadline was given. On March 9, three cafés had been sealed which were found disregarding the regulations.
FIRs were lodged against the owners under the Immoral Trafficking Act with police coming to know about liquor consumption. Some cafés even had beds, some had dim lights and supplied contraceptives.
When contacted, Patna senior superintendent of police Alok Kumar said things were being worked out.
“The police are not sitting idle and things are being worked out. The police will come up with details very soon,” he told The Telegraph.
Sources said the deadline could have been increased.
“It could be that the same has been increased. But even if there has been an increase of 15 days, the same has ended too. Things are not very clear about the entire plan,” an officer said.
Earlier, Patna City superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande had said the entire idea of raiding cyber cafés and streamlining cafés was not just about stopping petty crimes and sex trade but also illegal money trading.
