Often when you are out on the city streets late in the night, you could face uncomfortable questions from the cops. Sometimes the questions may even leave one wondering whether it is illegal or a crime to be out of home late in the night.
Legal experts say the police have powers to mandate closing of shops after a particular time in the night, but they have no any justification to hinder the movement of a citizen, how much ever late it is.
While the Chennai city police deadline for shops may be technically legal, a growing section of people is questioning whether the 11 pm deadline in a burgeoning metropolis is realistic.
“The police have powers under the Tamil Nadu City Police Act and other similar laws. For example, tea shops must get a license from police and as part of the license approval, one of the conditions is that they must adhere to the timings,” says senior advocate A Natarajan.
But as the city is an IT hub with a host of MNCs that function based on various global time zones, several people feel the police must be more realistic in regulating the shops — if at all that is necessary to control the crime rate.
“My shift ends at 11 pm and at least 300 people leave the office at that time. But if you are hungry, there is not even a bakery or hotel to have a snack,” says A Rosary Xavier, working in an MNC at Adyar. He feels that keeping the shops open will instead give a more secure feeling than walking on a deserted and dark street.
Moreover, the police are often keen only on closing down the tea stalls, bakery and petty shops, which mostly cater to the lower and middle class sections of society. This selective enforcement and authoritative tone with which the police approach the shopkeepers leaves them with a feeling that they are being targeted only because they are in the lower economic strata.
“You see, there is always free movement of vehicles from every luxury hotel throughout the night. The police don’t restrict that. So why should they harass somebody like me who has to work for a livelihood? If the police allow me to keep my shop open at least till midnight, I can do good business as several people working in night shifts pass by this street,” says Kathiravan, who runs a tea stall at Thiruvanmiyur.
Some lawyers also feel that police restrictions on the timings can be challenged if any shopkeeper feels that it infringes on his right to livelihood. “In recent years, the courts have been very liberally interpreting the constitutional guarantee for right to life. There are statutes giving police administrative powers to set the deadline. But if properly challenged in courts, it may not stand the legal scrutiny,” says advocate S Kalaiselvan.