Thane police helping hookah parlours, NGO alleges

The division bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and M R Bhatkar today issued notice to commissioner K P Raghuvanshi, and directed him to file an affidavit.

"Our first impression is that police's loyalty is towards the hotel and not towards the rule of law," the bench said, hearing a public interest litigation filed by the NGO `Crusade Against Tobacco' which alleged that local police were shielding the owner of Hotel Hollywood-18 on Ghodbunder Road in Thane.

Vincent Nazareth of the NGO contended that its volunteers saw more than 100 youngsters smoking hookah at the hotel in September, but when they approached the local police, somebody from the police station tipped off the hotel. When the hotel was raided, there was no hookah-smoking going on.

High Court today also directed Nazareth to file an affidavit giving details of the incident.

The High Court had earlier upheld the validity of a circular issued by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in July 2011, which in effect banned hookah parlours inside restaurants and hotels.

The hearing has been adjourned for four weeks.