The enforcement of the night curbs was not uniform in Kolkata, a tour of the city on Saturday night suggested.
While police were stringent in implementing the curbs at most places, at least one eatery in south Kolkata flouted them.
The night curfew in Kolkata is in place from 11pm to 5am to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.
Around 11.30pm, Jai Hind Dhaba on Sarat Bose Road was bustling. Inside, the eatery was packed. Scores of people waited outside for their turn to get in. Many others had their food served in their cars.
Many people waiting outside were unmasked. A police van was standing right outside the dhaba when this newspaper visited the spot.
Asked about the violation of night curbs at the eatery, joint commissioner police (headquarters) Subhankar Sinha Sarkar said: “We will look into it.”
Manjit Singh Jitta, the owner of the restaurant, said: “We try to close in time but the rush is too much…. By midnight, the restaurant is closed for diners and only online orders are accepted.”
The Telegraph had toured several areas of Kolkata after 11pm on October 24. Multiple eateries were serving food to customers beyond 11pm. Some sold food on the sly and some openly.
Between Saturday night and the wee hours of Sunday, this newspaper found most of the places shut for diners. Azad Hind Dhaba and Sharma Dhaba, on Ballygunge Circular Road in south Kolkata, had police guard rails right in front of their entrances.
The gates were shut for diners. Delivery persons of online food aggregators dropped in occasionally to pick up orders.
Balwant Singh Eating House, on Harish Mukherjee Road, was quieter on Saturday night.
On Ballygunge Circular Road, cops stopped two young women on a two-wheeler around 11.20pm. Neither was wearing a mask. They were trailing a white car, which was stopped, too. A relative was in the car, one of the riders told a cop.
The two could not give a satisfactory response why they flouted the night curfew and were fined.