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Prohibition of Serving Hookah in Restaurants/Cafes due to COVID-19 says Allahabad HC
In the State of Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court has prohibited the serving of Hookahs/Cafés, etc. as a preventive measure as coronavirus is widely spreading. The Chief Secretary of the State has been directed not to permit the Bars, Restaurants, and Cafes to serve Hookahs until further orders from the Court by Division Bench of Justices Shashi Kant Gupta and Shamim Ahmed.
The Court further said that they cannot deny that corona-virus cases were increasing day by day and if public places like Restaurants and Cafes are not restricted from serving Hookahtc, etc. as an immediate effect, there might be large chances of coronavirus cases in Uttar Pradesh. The said direction has come, as there was a suo moto case registered in the High Court on the probable spread of coronavirus through Hookahs served at various restaurants, cafes, etc.
Hari Govind Dubey, a Law Student from Lucknow University urged in a letter petition to the UP Chief Minister Adityanath, Chief Secretary of the State, Director General of the police, Police Commissioner, Lucknow, for restricting the serving of Hookahs in public places till the pandemic situation subsides.
The Court has treated the above letter as a PIL and had said the Government to respond to the petition. The State Government gave no response, so the Court took the matter in his own hands and took a decision that hookah smoking was a prima facie ideal mode to transmit and facilitate the spread of the virus through shared use.
The Court also said that the infection can be transmitted through hookah by waterpipe smoking. They also gave the example where COVID spread because of hookah sharing at Jind Village Haryana. They also gave the reference of WHOs advice of prohibiting hookah in the present crisis, by keeping in mind the interest of people at large.
Chief Secretary of the State is asked by the Court to file their response and give a compliance report through personal affidavit till the next date of hearing.
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