The Supreme Court on Tuesday made an important comment on the issue of taking outside food to cinema halls. The court has clearly said that people can be stopped from taking outside food to the theatre. This comment has been made by Chief Justice of Supreme Court DY Chandrachud.
Apart from this, he has also said that the hall should provide the facility of free pure water to the people who come to watch the cinema. The Supreme Court said that if there is a new born child with the audience coming to watch the film, then their parents should be allowed to take food inside the cinema hall for them.
Jammu and Kashmir High Court was challenged
The decision of the High Court was challenged in the Supreme Court. While giving the verdict, the High Court said that the audience who are going to watch the cinema can take eatables with them. The Supreme Court’s decision was knocked against this decision. On behalf of the petitioner in the Supreme Court, Senior Advocate KV Vishwanath has said that since the cinema hall is a private property, it can restrict the admission rights.
He has pointed out the security reasons behind this ban. While presenting his arguments, the counsel for the petitioner also gave the example of the airport. Apart from this, the petitioner has said that the Jammu and Kashmir Cinema Rules 1975 does not allow the audience going to the cinema to take food items along with them. It is not necessary to buy food items in the cinema hall.
Cinema hall is private property
After hearing the arguments of both the sides, the Supreme Court said that the cinema hall is a private property and the owner of the cinema hall is allowed to come inside under the legislative provision. Under this provision, it is strictly forbidden to carry weapons inside cinema halls. Also, no one can be stopped on the basis of gender or caste from going inside. But how can the High Court say that it should be allowed to take outside food inside?
“What if someone takes Jalebi and wipes his hands on the seat of the cinema hall. No one forces any movie goer to buy popcorn. We want to make it clear here that pure drinking water should be made available to the people in the cinema hall and it should be free of cost”,said the supreme court
Supreme Court made the following comments
•The bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that the owner of a cinema hall has every right to regulate the food items.
•The bench headed by Justice PS Narasimha said that it is up to the audience who come to watch the film, how they consume what is available, and pointed out that the audience goes to the cinema hall only for entertainment.
• The bench has said that the cinema house is a private property and its owner can decide on the rights of prohibition. The owner may object to taking Jalebi to the movie hall because after eating Jalebi one can dirty it by wiping hands from the chair.
• The bench has also said that the owner is entitled to lay down such terms and conditions as he deems fit and is not against public interest or safety.
• The bench further said that cinemas have every right to reserve admission and cinema owners have every right to sell their own food and beverages. The bench said how can the court say that it can bring any kind of food inside the hall.
• The bench said that clean drinking water should be available to all in cinema halls. In addition, parents of newborn children should be allowed to take their food inside for them.
• The Supreme court said the high court had exceeded its jurisdiction and directed multiplexes and cinema halls not to prevent movie-goers from carrying their own food and beverages to movie halls.
