Sule Slams Pune Police Over 10 pm Curbs on Hotels and Small Traders, Says ‘Treatment Worse Than Disease’

Pune, 26th May 2026: NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule has questioned the restrictions imposed on hotels and small businesses in the city after the Pune police enforced a 14-day prohibitory order under which shops, food stalls and small traders have been directed to shut operations after 10 pm.

Sule said Pune has now become a 24-hour working city and asked what purpose is being served by “targeting the livelihood of small traders” such as hawkers and food street operators.

Under the order, all businesses operating in areas such as food streets and night-time markets have been instructed to close by 10 pm.

Raising concerns over the move, she said that while police action against rising crime remains ineffective, restrictions are being imposed on small traders instead. She pointed to increasing criminal incidents in the city, including gang-related violence, firing and robberies, saying that law and order has deteriorated and citizens, especially women and children, feel unsafe.

Sule questioned the rationale behind restricting business activity, asking what the police administration intends to achieve by shutting down shops when crime control has not improved. She also referred to the recurring presence of organised gangs and rising fear among residents.

She further said that the police commissioner has termed the measure a “preventive order” rather than a curfew, and questioned what exactly is being prevented if restrictions are being imposed in this manner. She also criticised the timing of such orders, suggesting that law and order issues are not limited to festive periods alone.

Calling the decision disproportionate, she said the situation appears to be an example of “treatment being worse than the disease,” and urged authorities to reconsider the restrictions imposed on small businesses.