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Upholding the ban imposed on sale and use of hookah in public places by the State government, the High Court of Karnataka on Monday pointed out from the research documents that a session of hookah, which typically last for an hour, is equivalent to smoking 100 cigarattes.
The Court also said that even ‘herbal’ hookah cannot be left unregulated merely because it does not contain tobacco, as it contains molasses, which is a prohibited substance under the Karnataka Prohibition Act, 1961.
Why delay?
When enamours information on ill-effects of hookah is available in the public domain, it is understandable why the State government had kept quiet all these days to leave these places to mushroom into hundreds as there are now about 800 hookah bars in the State of Karnataka, the Court wondered.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while rejecting a batch of petitions filed by R. Bharath and several other owners of hookah bars. The petitioners had questioned legality of February 7, 2024 notification of the State government in banning sale and use of hookah in public places, including hookah bars.
The Court said that the State government was right in invoking its power under Article 47 of the Constitution of India to ensure that public health does not suffer.
‘A service’
Pointing out that Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places (Amendment) Rules, 2017 ‘prohibits any service in any smoking area or space provided for smoking’, the Court analysed the smoking activity of hookah to ascertain whether smoking through hookah is plain smoking (like cigarette), which can be permitted in a designated area, or it is a product of ‘service’ that needs to be rendered.
“The manner of service to smoke a cigarette is zero. The manner of service to smoke hookah with or without tobacco, needs rendering of services in the designated area, as it requires external human hand to place all the apparatus on the tables like food or alcohol would be served on those tables,” the Court noted.
As hookah cannot be inhaled without apparatus, assistance from human hand in the form of a waiter at a restaurant, it is, on the face of it, a service, and hence prohibited in the designated area under the Rules, the Court said.
The also found no fault with the Government’s action of invoking Poisons Act as tobacco used in hookah contains nicotine, which come under the provisions of the Poisons Act.
Hookah Vs Cigarette
Referring to evolution of hookah, which was invented in India in the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar, by his Persian Physician in Fatehpur Sikri about 500 years ago, the Court, from research documents presented before it, noticed that hookah contains many of the common toxins as cigarettes and there are possibility of spread of certain diseases as people in group use same mouth piece of a hookah.
