51,000 cases booked so far; penalty of Rs. 1.37 crore collected

Mysore/Mysuru: The City Police have constituted dedicated teams to penalise those not wearing masks, violating social distancing norms and spitting in public. The dedicated teams have been deployed at specific locations within the jurisdiction of some Police Stations from 10 am to 6 pm daily to punish hygiene norms violators.

City Police Commissioner Dr. Chandragupta said that the exclusive teams are named CAB (COVID-Appropriate Behaviour) Team and they have been suitably trained on law enforcement. The teams have been given three vehicles and they will be on the move always. Apart from penalising mask-less persons, the patrolling teams will visit choultries, event and marriage halls to see if the limited guest norm is followed or if there are any violations. 

Their job is to visit public places including hotels and choultries and record the happenings in the video-camera provided to them. Later, the videos are displayed at the Control Room in City Police Commissioner’s Office and cases are booked after identifying the people. The videos are presented as photographic evidence. 

Teams have been spotted at choultries directing the attendees to wear masks and stand at least 3ft. apart while conversing. The Police say that violation of COVID-19 norms notified under the provisions of the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases (KED) Act, 2020 are cognisable and non-bailable in nature. Till now in Mysuru, 51,000 COVID norm violation cases have been booked and a penalty of Rs. 1.37 crore has been collected. 

“Normalcy has returned to the city and people are stepping out of homes more often. So, we have to focus on preventing the disease. Apart from penalising the violators, we are educating people on the effective enforcement of laws to prevent spread of COVID-19. Violations like not wearing masks, failure to maintain social distancing and flouting rules for large congregations have been common in Mysuru and this is why teams have been formed to check,” a Police officer said. 

High Court observation

Even the High Court of Karnataka has observed that unless penal actions under the KED Act, 2020 and the regulations are enforced strictly, the purpose of enacting these laws as a tool to the State authorities to prevent spread of epidemic diseases like COVID-19 cannot be achieved effectively. 

Right to lead healthy life is guaranteed under the Article 21 of the Constitution and the State Government must view violations of COVID-19 norms seriously as violation of these norms by person or group would violate right to healthy life of other citizens, the Court has observed. 

Cases booked

City Police have booked cases   under IPC and The Disaster Management Act – 2005 against the following persons for violating norms on Apr. 18 and 19.

Those booked are: Organisers of weddings in Vidyaranyapuram and Devaraja Police limits, Manager of a bar near the Private Bus Stand, Manager of a shopping mall on Vinoba Road, a shop owner on K.T. Street, owner of a restaurant in Alanahalli Police limits, tea shop owner on Mahadevapura Road,  a juice centre owner on Al-Badar Masjid Road and owner of a shop in  Kuvempunagar.