01-08-2025
Restaurant owners move Bombay HC against police raids despite earlier court order allowing ‘herbal hookah'
Twelve restaurant owners from the city serving herbal and tobacco-free hookah have approached the Bombay High Court against visits by police officers without notice and threatening the restaurants to shut down and stop serving herbal hookah.
The petitioners claimed that such actions were being taken despite the HC verdict of August 2019 which permitted restaurants to serve herbal hookah and the same was complied with by the owners.
A bench of Justices Shree Chandrashekhar and Manjusha Deshpande was hearing a plea by 12 restaurant owners argued through advocates Rajendra Rathod and Dhruv Jain.
The petitioners include owners/operators of Ustaadi at Crawford Market, The Nest in Bandra, Rustico in Fort, Faham restaurant in Kala Ghoda among others.
The high court granted time to state government lawyer to take instructions to respond to the plea and granted liberty to the petitioners to amend the petition with additional information.
The actions were allegedly being taken based on June 6, 2025 circular of the home department to police which stipulated that if illegal hookah parlours are found at any location, the responsible police officers must be held accountable and strict action should be taken against them.
'These acts of illegally and unlawfully shutting down the service of herbal hookah at the petitioners' restaurants and threatening to shut down the petitioners' restaurants completely, are not only causing huge monetary losses to the petitioners but also directly affecting the earning capacity and livelihood of their employees,' the plea stated.
The petitioners sought direction from the court to the respondent police authorities not to enter their restaurants for any purpose including search without following due procedure under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 and Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
The petitioners also sought direction to the authorities to comply with the August 2019 order of the HC enabling them to serve herbal hookah and to stop 'illegal and unlawful raids' and threats to the petitioners' restaurants. The plea also sought no coercive action against petitioners for serving herbal or tobacco-free hookah at their establishments.
The petitioners also sought direction to authorities that the June 6 circular would not be applicable to them as they are serving herbal/tobacco-free hookah. The HC is likely to hear the plea next on August 6.
