Three men who allegedly tried to prevent a traffic sergeant from performing his duty near Shakuntala Park in southwest Kolkata’s Behala area were arrested on Saturday night.
A sergeant of the Diamond Harbour Road traffic guard was deployed at Shakuntala Park on Saturday to check vehicles and prosecute offenders, including those violating the night curfew.
The incident happened around 10pm, an hour before the curfew kicked in, when a group of men from the neighbourhood confronted the traffic cop and started arguing with him, asking him to shift his location.
“Some work is going on for which the stretch has become narrower. The men were opposed to the sergeant standing there and prosecuting people,” said an officer of Parnasree police station.
“What the men refused to understand was that the presence of a traffic cop was needed on the stretch to regulate traffic.”
Based on the complaint of the traffic sergeant, the accused were charged under Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code (offence of deterring public servant from performing duty).
The accused were Sujay Mondal, Raju Singh; Tapabrata Sil and Raju Bag.
Other than Bag, all were arrested.
The night curfew, which remains in force from 11pm to 5am as an anti-Covid measure, was relaxed across the state between November 2 and 5 for Kali Puja and Diwali.
The curfew has been back in force since Saturday night, when the incident happened.
According to the curfew rules, no individual or vehicle is allowed on the roads between 11pm and 5am.
Only people facing an emergency or involved in emergency services are exempt from the curfew.
The night curfew will remain suspended again on November 10 and 11 on the occasion of Chhath Puja.