Cinema halls, multiplexes have the right to prohibit outside food, says SC

Theatre owners have to let parents to bring food for infants and provide free drinking water to visitors

In what might come as relief to multiplexes, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that theatre owners had the right to prohibit outside food and beverages on their premises.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said that movie halls were the private property of owners, so they had the right to decide what could be carried. It set aside a Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) High Court order asking multiplexes and theatres not to prevent visitors from carrying their own food and beverages.

The Supreme Court, however, said that cinemas should allow parents to bring food for infants and children and provide free drinking water to all visitors.

"A cinema hall owner has the right to regulate the entry of food and beverages. Whether to consume what is available is entirely upon the choice of the movie-goer. Viewers visit movie halls for entertainment," it said.

"If a viewer enters a movie hall, he or she has to adhere to the rules of the cinema hall owner and it is evidently a matter of commercial decision of the theatre owner," said the court.

The Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on pleas filed by theatre owners in Jammu & Kashmir and the Multiplex Association of India challenging the high court order.