Lot happened Maharashtra – every political party tried teaching a lesson to others. As usual, there were newer definitions of ‘secularism’ and
political shrewdness! – and what was ‘politically right ?’. in between how much do you enjoy your stay
and what are the criteria when you select a hotel for your stay at the place of
travel!
Miles
away, on the busy Delhi-Jaipur National highway, inside a luxury resort, many
Congress Corporators of Maharashtra were
housed, away from the media and ensuring their loyalty. Keeping them in good
spirits, the Congress party remained busy holding discussions with the NCP and the Shiv Sena
with regard to the government formation in Maharashtra. Before ridiculing this, have in mind that
this has happened many times in the Nation, and also in our own Tamil Nadu.
After the death of Ms J Jayalalithaa, a luxury resort 80 km off Chennai was at the centre of a political storm
in Tamil Nadu – as two factions claimed the majority. But how much life has
changed, there has been some rejig and the party is still in power. It was more or less the same situation when
MGR passed away in Dec 1987 – reportedly MLAs were held up in a ginning mill
and later Mrs Janaki Ramachandran proved majority before the Governor, albeit
for a short while.
This is no post on politics or MLA’s
stay in hotels – but more on stay on hotels!
~ sometime back, Tamil Nadu police sealed a service apartment in Coimbatore after
a surprise raid. The raid was said to
have been conducted over complaints from neighbours and news in print and
social media that unmarried couples were being permitted to stay in hotel
rooms, which was termed as "immoral." The rooms were subsequently
sealed off, with the police citing the absence of a 'Form D' certificate and
the proprietors of the premises allowing illegal activities in the rooms as
reasons. The objectionable activities alleged including the serving of liquor
and allowing unmarried guests to occupy the rooms.
Thousands
of miles away, in Japan, a hotel room
for a dollar sounds pretty great, right? Just one catch. There’s a camera in
the room that will live-stream your stay. The brain behind this novel idea is
27-year old Tetsuya Inoue who runs Asahi Ryokan, a hotel in Fukuoka, Japan
that’s owned by his grandmother. The other rooms go at $24 a night, but if
you’re really broke this is the room for you. It’s something like living a day on The Truman
Show, except you actually know that you’re on camera ! The camera is fitted in such a way that the
bathroom is out of range, and the camera records video only – so all conversations will remain private.
..
…. In a Quiz, a man and a woman colleague who
formed the team were asked – if you are to travel together and book a room at a
hotel – what will you say in te reception while booking a room ? .. [if not a single room and if one were to
stay together – would call it a double room or twin room ?] .. .. .. When
traveling or booking hotel rooms, people often come across the terms twin and
double room. Most of us are under the mistaken impression that the two are the same as twin means two and
double also means two. Though Twin and double refers to the number ‘Two’, there
is a difference between Twin and double room in hotel terminology. Double refers to a room where there would be
only one large bed and in twin room, there would be two small beds. In twin
room, the beds are separate where as in double there is no separation of the
bed. Couples usually prefer double rooms. On the other hand, if one were to say
‘double room with twin occupation’ there will be two separate cots !
Of
the many Acts, perhaps the one some would be uncomfortable is : the Immoral
Traffic (Precention) Act 1956. The Act
inter-alia defines “brothel” as - includes any house, room, [conveyance] or
place or any portion of any house, room, which is used for purposes of sexual
exploitation or abuse, for the gain of
another person or for the mutual gain of two or more prostitutes.
Now
read this interesting observations made by Madras High court in the Coimbatore
case. Justice MS Ramesh passed the
judgment observing that a live-in relationship of two adults is not deemed to
be an offence. The occupation of a hotel room by an unmarried couple would not
attract an offence; and the court also ordered de-sealing of the hire service apartment in Coimbatore, which
was closed after authorities found an unmarried couple occupying the apartment
during a search. Noting that the state
law allowed possession of stipulated quantities of liquor by an individual, the
Judge also said the consumption of liquor by the guests on the petitioners'
premises cannot also be termed as illegal.
Observing
that a live-in relationship of two adults is not deemed to be an offence, the
Madras High Court has said that the occupation of a hotel room by such
unmarried couples will not attract a criminal offence. "Apparently, there
are no laws or regulations forbearing unmarried persons of the opposite sex to
occupy hotel rooms as guests," Justice said in a recent order. While that
being so, the extreme step of sealing the premises on the ground that an
unmarried couple was occupying the premises is totally illegal in the absence
of any law prohibiting the same, he said.
According
to the petitioner, they were running a hospitality service in Service
apartment in Coimbatore. A search was conducted on the premises by a
team from the office of the Tahsildar and local police on 25 June last. The
team found liquor bottles in one of the rooms occupied by the guests and in one
room two adults who were not married were staying. The premises was then
sealed. The petitioner contended that
such an action has been taken based on the viral news spread on the social media
about the premises. The prosecution said the petitioner's premises had not
obtained Form D and without details of the guests in the booking registers,
illegal activities by the guests were permitted. In view of the objections from
the neighbouring womenfolk, the action was taken against the petitioner.
Law
is often ……….. !!
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
9th
Dec 2019.
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