PANAJI
The Goa government is considering implementing cross-gender massage activities in registered spa centers.
The discussion reportedly follows a ruling by the Delhi High Court in 2021, which stated that cross-gender massage does not amount to sexual activity.
Similarly, this year, the Uttarakhand High Court directed its State Director General of Police to examine the issue after several applications argued that police interference in this matter is ‘unwarranted.’
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, in his email communiqué to Goa DGP Jaspal Singh, last month, briefly mentioned the orders of the High Court and Supreme Court regarding cross massage and requested this activity be permitted “without any police interference.”
According to the email under the subject line “Regarding the Spas, which have permission from the Public Health Department”, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is in the know of the matter.
“I have explained to the CM about the spas that have obtained permission from the Public Health Department. The High Court has allowed cross-massage in its order, and there is a Supreme Court order supporting the same. We have also sought the opinion of the Advocate General at that time,” the email states.
Rane also requested that the activity be allowed without police interference. “Hence, spas with permission should be allowed to carry out their activities smoothly without any police interference. The CM agrees with my viewpoint, where I have explained the Advocate General’s opinion and the High Court judgment regarding cross massages. I am documenting this and sending it to you so that necessary instructions can be issued to the police,” the email adds.
The minister also ‘requested’ the DGP to discuss this matter with Sawant.
The Goan spoke to AG Devidas Pangam and DHS Director Dr Geeta Kakodkar, both of whom claimed they were not aware of the letter. DGP Singh remained unavailable for comment.
With Goa being a tourist destination where illegal spas and cross massages have been mushrooming, the government has repeatedly instructed the police to shut down illegal activities operating as fronts for prostitution.
While some have been raided and closed down, others have resurfaced. Questions have also been raised about the absence of a law specifically banning cross-gender massage.
Until last year, the State Directorate of Health Services registered around 160 spas and massage parlours, with directives in place to provide at least two male and two female masseurs.
Some in the police department claim that legal provision only states that a spa or massage parlour must have both male and female masseurs to attend to customers of both genders but it does not specify whether cross-gender massage is permitted or not.
The Delhi High Court, which is currently hearing petitions challenging the Delhi government’s ban on cross-massage, stayed the order in December 2021. In Uttarakhand, the High Court has asked its DGP to review representations from spa owners after their counsel pointed out the absence of a policy on the subject, which makes police interference unwarranted.
According to Madras High Court Justice N Anand Venkatesh, “police has no legal right to prevent a health spa being operated by anyone even if the therapy is done by persons of one sex to those belonging to the opposite sex. A health spa, where cross-gender massages is a worldwide phenomenon, there is no legal prohibition and to borrow the wordings of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, except the majoritarian impulses rooted in moralistic tradition which is attempting to impinge upon individual autonomy”.
