The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Centre, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in response to a plea seeking to ban the employment of children, particularly minor girls, in orchestras, dance bars, massage parlors, spas, and similar venues. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi highlighted the gravity of the issue, terming it a “very serious” matter. The plea challenges the exclusion of occupations like orchestras, dance bars, and massage parlors from the hazardous category under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (CALPRA).
The petition emphasizes that the absence of these establishments from the hazardous list has led to an “enforcement vacuum,” allowing organized trafficking networks and exploitative businesses to operate under the guise of entertainment and wellness services. It calls for the inclusion of employment of children under 18 years in orchestras, dance bars, and similar places in the list of prohibited hazardous occupations. Additionally, the plea seeks the formulation of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the rescue and rehabilitation of children engaged in such activities.
According to the petition, minors, especially girls, are often trafficked, confined, coerced, and sexually exploited under the pretext of job opportunities. They are forced to engage in sexually explicit and exploitative acts for commercial purposes, exposing them to severe physical, psychological, and sexual harm. The plea also mentions rescue operations conducted between March 2025 and May 2026 in Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Delhi, where numerous minors were rescued from orchestras, dance bars, and massage parlors, allegedly trafficked from various states and even Nepal.
