GUWAHATI: The Karnataka High Court in a judgment delivered on April 23, 2024, upheld the state government's ban on hookah, citing significant health risks and inadequate regulation. Justice M Nagaprasanna, who presided over the case, expressed concern about the common misconception that smoking hookah is safer than smoking cigarettes, emphasising that evidence suggests otherwise.
"The defence all over is that hookah is less harmful than cigarettes. The studies again are otherwise. It is a myth that smoking hookah carries less risk of tobacco-related diseases than smoking cigarettes," the Court observed.
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Justice Nagaprasanna noted that a typical hookah session involves around 200 puffs, equivalent to smoking 100 cigarettes. Additionally, the communal nature of hookah smoking, where a single instrument is passed among multiple people, increases the risk of spreading diseases like hepatitis and herpes.
The Court criticised the state's delayed response to the proliferation of hookah bars, questioning why it took so long to act given the considerable health risks. "It is understandable as to why the State had kept quiet all these days to leave these places to mushroom into hundreds," Justice Nagaprasanna remarked.
The Court highlighted that hookah smoking, including herbal hookah, falls under the purview of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) due to the use of tobacco or molasses. As such, the prohibition on smoking in public places and the ban on providing services in smoking areas apply to hookah bars as well.
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In response to arguments that herbal hookah does not contain tobacco, the Court noted that it typically includes molasses, which is regulated under the Karnataka Prohibition Act, 1961. Thus, the state has the authority to control or ban herbal hookah as well.
The Karnataka High Court affirmed the state government's competence to regulate public health matters under the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The Court also supported the state's use of the Poisons Act, 1919, to take action against tobacco or nicotine-laced hookah.