Kanpur: Acting on a high court order completely banning hookah bars, Commissionerate Police on Wednesday arrested 25 people and seized hookahs and related material during raids at cafes and restaurants across the city.
Police checked 265 establishments in Chakeri, Hanumant Vihar, Kohna, Swaroop Nagar and Panki, and found several allegedly operating hookah bars under the cover of restaurants. In the eastern zone, police raided 65 establishments. During raids at 79 establishments in the southern zone, police found a hookah bar allegedly operating at a hotel in Khadepur, Hanumant Vihar. Police checked 55 establishments in the central zone and raided a cafe in Tilak Nagar, Kohna.
It noted that following the 2017 amendment to the Rules, the expression “any other service” was replaced with “any service”. This makes it clear that preparing a hookah, filling it with tobacco, placing coal on it, delivering it to a customer or replacing the coal would all amount to providing a service, the court said. Joint police commissioner (law and order) Vipin Tada said the large-scale drive was conducted following the high court’s directions.
At a cafe in Sanigawan, customers were allegedly found smoking hookah. Police arrested four people, including operator Tauseef, a resident of Gadiyana in Chakeri. Five people, including hotel operator Prateek Yadav and his associate Shiva Savita, were arrested. Hookahs and coal were seized. Operator Mohsin Wali, a resident of Chamanganj, was arrested, while his associate Aqib fled. Police recovered a large quantity of hookahs. A hookah bar in Swaroop Nagar was also raided.
Allahabad high court on Tuesday ruled that restaurants, cafes and other public places cannot serve hookah to customers even in designated smoking areas, holding that such activity was prohibited under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act and the Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules.