New ploy to nail airport touts

Kolkata: North 24-Parganas police have hit upon an innovative idea to curb the tout menace at the city airport. Don’t launch a raid to book touts before noon — says the new directive meant for officers of NSCBI Airport police station. This, the cops believe, will help them detain the touts for longer hours and prevent the latter from doing business.
Touts are generally booked under Section 290 of IPC or Section 34 of Police Act for causing public nuisance, which are bailable. “Touts have to pay a mere Rs 250 each to move a bail plea. So, the best thing to do is to detain them for longer hours so that it affects their business,” said a senior officer of North 24-Parganas police.
So, if the arrests are made after noon and cases are filed after the court is through for the day, the offenders can be held in custody till the next day. “This will have an adverse effect on their business, which is the only way the menace can be curbed completely,” the officer added.
“We get 24 hours to produce them in court. But as soon as news spreads, there is immense pressure from local political leaders to produce them in court as soon as possible. They are released after paying a paltry sum of Rs 250 as bail bond,” the officer said.
On Tuesday, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and North 24-Parganas police formed a joint task force to curb the tout menace. Already, ten touts have been arrested — six on Wednesday and four on Thursday. Interestingly, all the raids were conducted in the afternoon.
02/01/10 Arpit Basu/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010