AHMEDABAD: City police went soft on people during the Navratri festival period, which is apparent from the cases filed for people for not wearing masks, which fell from 711 cases on October 7, the first day of Navratri, to 400 on October 15, the last day of the festival.
The reason for the fewer numbers of mask offences registered according to the police is that with the reduction in Covid-19 cases, they do not need to be harsh on people.
“We kept a strict vigil over garba events during Navratri festival and ensured that people wore masks all the time and maintained social distancing. As we were strict and patrolling round the clock, people followed the rules and cases of mask violations have reduced,” said a police officer.
On the other hand, the figures suggest that police gradually reduced filing cases for mask violations a week ahead of Navratri.
In this month, the highest number of cases, 785, was reported on October 4. On September 30, police filed 985 such cases, which fell to less then half on October 17, when only 426 cases were reported.
A police officer said that rather than concentrated drives on catching people without masks, they conduct surprise checks at public places and book violators.
He said that the number of active Covid-19 cases is not even in double digits in the city, so there is no need to charge people and raise dissent among them.
Sources in the police said that they registered fewer cases during the festival and even during elections, which was apparent during the civic body polls in February.
According to city police figures, police registered just four cases for mask violations on February 21, when the civic polls were held for 48 wards of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). That has been the lowest number of mask cases in the city till date.
