Plea filed before Delhi HC against ban on cross-gender massage

Please file the document, said the judge.Delhi government counsel stated that the guidelines prohibiting cross-gender massages, evolved by a Lieutenant Governor-appointed task force, are in relation to the grant of the health trade licences and were yet to notified as law.It the guidelines is yet to culminate into a law.

The Delhi High Court Monday said it will hear on September 20 a challenge to the Delhi government's guidelines banning cross-gender massage services and sought to know if any action has been taken against spas on this basis.

Justice Rekha Palli, who orally observed that the ban was a policy decision of the government, asked the petitioner – Association of Wellness Ayurveda & Spa - to file an additional affidavit listing its members and the action taken by authorities according to the guidelines.

"I am not issuing notice for the present. Please fill the document," said the judge.

Delhi government counsel stated that the guidelines prohibiting cross-gender massages, evolved by a Lieutenant Governor-appointed task force, are about the grant of the health trade licenses and were yet to be notified as law.

"It (the guidelines) is yet to culminate into a law. It is just an internal document. It cannot be implemented right now," said the counsel.

The task force was constituted according to a reference received by the Lieutenant Governor from the Delhi Commission for Women on the working of spas, he added.

"The grievance is that there is a guideline by you (government). She has the right to challenge if they are being followed," the court observed.

Counsel for the municipal bodies raised objections concerning the status of the petitioner which claimed to be an association of individuals having valid licenses to run spas here.

Counsel for the petitioner stated that the ban was unconstitutional and in violation of Article 19(1)(g).

"It is irrational, discriminatory, and a great setback for the industry," said the lawyer.

In its petition filed through lawyers Indu Kaul and Mani Kaul, the petitioner has claimed that based on the guidelines, which are not in the public domain, two spas have been closed down and others are being "threatened by the officials".

"Every industry, workplace, and businesses have some bad apples but that doesn't mean that every spa center across the state is running a prostitution and human trafficking racket," reads the petition which asserts that spa centers spend a "huge amount on training and skill up-gradation" of their massage therapists and the structure of their functioning cannot be altered after the trade license has been issued by the authorities.

It is highlighted that there are several places where men and women work together, like gyms and yoga centers, and singling out spas was not reasonable.

Further, it is stated that cross-gender treatment has been "part of the traditional massage practices" and assuming prostitution to be only in the "heterosexual domain" is illogical.