In a span of four days, 13 children aged between 14 and 17 years, have been rescued from hookah parlours, making the police wonder whether more minors are getting addicted to hookahs following the resurgence of these joints
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In a span of four days, 13 children aged between 14 and 17 years, have been rescued from hookah parlours, making the police wonder whether more minors are getting addicted to hookahs following the resurgence of these joints. The rescue of such juveniles is part of an on going special drive enforced last week against illegal hookah parlours, on the orders of city Police Chief Datta Padsalgikar, and a special team comprising a dozen officers from the Juvenile Aid Protection Unit (JAPU) and Social Service Branch.
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“We are conducting a drive which started last week and appropriate actions are being initiated under the provisions of the amended Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, which has a punishment of seven years and a fine upto Rs 1 lakh under the law,” said DCP Enforcement, Dr Pravinkumar Patil.
According to the records of the Social Service Branch, in just four days police have raided eight hookah joints and rescued the 13 minors, of whom three were girls from the first year in college. The juveniles were counselled and handed over to their parents.
Smoking out of curiosity
“In a raid at a hookah joint on Monday night in Bandra, a 16-year-old boy was handed over to his parents. They were thankful to us for bring the matter to their notice. He told us he started smoking out of curiosity and then it became a habit with friends,” said a police official.
The records available with the police also reveal that since the JJ Act was amended this year in January, there were raids on hookah parlours in the city between February and July, which saw 24 minors rescued from the joints. There were also nine juveniles working as waiters and serving hookahs.
Dangerous habit
Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, oncosurgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital said, ‘Nearly 27.5 crore Indians use tobacco and a vast majority of them start their habit in their childhood. As per a Global Adult Tobacco Survey, the age of initiation of tobacco habits in India is 17 years. As per Global Youth Tobacco survey, upto 20% of children in India are users of tobacco. The amended JJ Act aims to save our future generations from this lethal habit. It is proven beyond doubt that tobacco kills every third user prematurely through cancer, heart disease, stroke etc.”
Patil added, “Serving hookah to minors is illegal and there are specific rules for separate smoking rooms in eating houses. Those violating the rules are being booked under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act and JJ ACT. The raids by special teams will continue.”
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