For those who usually don't linger over the editorials above this column, Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) establishes the power of the magistrate of a state to prohibit the gathering of four or more people in a specified area deemed to be unsafe or dangerous. But while the clampdown law is applied to streets, neighbourhoods and areas in a city or town, in the fair city of Kolkata, they clamped down a hotel with Section 144 earlier this week.