NEW DELHI: Taking a surprising anti-khas aadmi stand, Delhi Police has opposed the request from five star hotels to keep their discotheques open till 5am, as it does not want to "waste its resources on the rich and privileged".
After the Nirbhaya gang rape, the home ministry had ordered all discs to close by 1am. Later, 12 five star hotels sought permission to open their discs till 5am as the hotels anyway have 24-hour liquor licences. A committee headed by the principal secretary of Delhi is looking into the matter and will take a decision on Tuesday.
"The 12 five star hotels may have 2,000-2,500 super-rich regulars. After drinking, some of them misbehave inside the discotheques, fight in the parking area, drive rashly and sometimes fight with cops. We have to attend to these calls and secure the roads outside five star hotels. This involves a lot of police officers, energy and money. Why should police waste their resources on the rich?" said a senior police officer.
During consultations about the hotels' request, police said, "Five star hotels should not be provided with 24x7 liquor licence for nightclubs and they should not be allowed to operate beyond 01.00 hours as this would result in an increase in the cases of drunken driving leading to fatal accidents and drunken hooliganism which would be highly prejudicial to the security of women". Senior officers are learned to have told the panel that the city cannot risk another "Nirbhaya-like incident".
Sources said that police also want the number of clubs in the capital to be kept to a minimum and have suggested that 24x7 licences be given to five star coffee shops instead so that food is served round-the-clock.
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