Chennai: Often raided by the police, protesting spas and beauty and massage parlours in the city have won this round with the Madras high court ordering the anti-vice Squad of the police not to routinely raid them without basis and interfere in their business.

Disposing a batch of petitions from Influence Enterprises (India) Private Limited (Spa Influence) and 19 other companies running parlours and spas in the city, Justice V. Ramasubramanian said the police could take action in specific cases where it had reasonable grounds to believe they were involved in immoral trafficking, but even then it must scrupulously follow guidelines laid down in section 15 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.

Suggesting the state could bring in either a new legislation or a subordinate legislation to regulate the activities of beauty parlours, massage centres and spas,the judge ordered it to file a report on or before March 31, 2015, before the court on the decision taken.

B. Rabu Manohar, counsel for some of the petitioners, told the court that the regular raids by the anti-vice squad not only affected their business but also projected them in poor light, when they were running a lawful business.

Additional advocate general P. H. Arvind Pandian however, contended that the police was only carrying out its duty to ensure that no premise was used for any unlawful activity.

But noting that the police had not proved it had followed the conditions laid down under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, the judge said, “The only presumption I can make is that it did not carry out a search by following all the steps prescribed.”