Allahabad High Court Judge Pens Poem Drawing From His Smoking Experience In Law School, Urges Youth To Shun Tobacco

In an interesting epilogue to its 90-page judgment holding that hookah bars cannot operate in Uttar Pradesh by rendering hookah services in Designated Smoking Areas, the Allahabad High Court judge Justice Shekhar B Saraf penned a poem drawing from his own experience of smoking and urging the younger generation not to fall prey to tobacco addiction.

The poem came at the end of a judgment in which a Bench of Justice Saraf and Justice Abhdesh Kumar Chaudhary held that hookah bars cannot lawfully operate and render hookah services in Designated Smoking Areas within public places in Uttar Pradesh.

Under the heading "My Experience With Tobacco Smoking", Justice Saraf wrote:

"From my own experience of smoking, I pen these last paragraphs in an attempt to educate the young generation of this country to not become a prey to the deleterious and indelible habit of tobacco smoking".

Justice Saraf's poem begins by recalling his days in law school. He describes himself as someone who initially "sneered at the smokers" and believed he would never join them.

He then recalls being offered a cigarette by a senior over 'chaii' and accepting it "just for fun". The poem describes how the occasional cigarette gradually became a habit. "The 'occasional' 'sutta' soon grew bold, It multiplied like rabbits, unrestrained", he said.

Justice Saraf writes about subsequently considering himself a "social smoker" who remained in control, while the number of cigarettes steadily increased.

The poem then turns to the physical consequences, describing the onset of coughing and phlegm and his unsuccessful attempts to quit smoking using patches and nicotine gum. He also writes about repeatedly resolving to quit, including at the start of successive years, but failing to follow through on those resolutions.

The complete poem is reproduced below:

"I entered law school pure as morning dew,
Sneered at the smokers puffing by the gate,
“Weak-willed,” I scoffed, “I'd never join that crew”
Famous last words. Reader, I was bait.
It started with a 'chaii', innocent and warm,
A senior offered, “Try one, just for fun.”
I took it like a soldier joins a storm
Bravely, stupidly, and one by one.
The “occasional” 'sutta' soon grew bold,
It multiplied like rabbits, unrestrained.
My lungs, once mine, were quietly sold
To a landlord who never once explained the lease.
I told myself I merely dabbled,
A social smoker, cultured, in control.
Meanwhile the count crept steadily
From “just one more” to “buy the whole damn pack.”
Then came the cough, my body's stand-up act,
Performing nightly, free of charge, unasked.
The phlegm arrived, a most unwelcome fact,
As if my throat had been recently tasked
With hosting a swamp.
I tried the patch, it itched.
I tried the gum, I chewed it, then lit up regardless,
Like a dieter who's sworn off cake, then switched
Straight to the icing, calling it “harmless.”
“I'll quit,” I said, with great conviction twice,
Then thrice, then roughly forty times a year.
Each January brought the same advice
From me, to me, which I did not adhere.
I've quit the quitting now, if I'll be honest,
The resolution's gathering dust and shame,
But hope remains perhaps once this is finished
(This job, this judgment), willpower makes a claim.
So here's my public service, dressed in rhyme,
From one who walked the very path you tread:
The first cigarette feels like harmless time
It isn't. Trust the cough, not what I said
At twenty, full of swagger, sure and free.
Don't be the fool who scoffed, only to become a boiling frog."

The poem followed the Court's observations concerning the public-health consequences of hookah smoking.

In the epilogue, the Bench noted that several States, including Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, have enacted State-level amendments to COTPA that specifically ban hookah bars and increase sentences and fines for violations.

The Court also recorded what it described as a matter of "grave medical significance", observing that a hookah session lasting approximately one hour involves an estimated 200 puffs and is equivalent in harm to smoking 100 cigarettes.

Rejecting the perception that hookah is necessarily less harmful than cigarettes, the bench observed thus:

"Hookah is as addictive as a cigarette, as harmful as a cigarette, and contains the same toxic chemicals as a cigarette".

Against this backdrop, the Court said it reasonably expects the State of Uttar Pradesh to “rise to the occasion” while keeping in mind the health and welfare of its citizens.

It said the State should take necessary steps, including issuing a notification on the lines of other States “imposing stringent punishment for service of hookah in all Designated Smoking Areas within the State.”

The judgment was also directed to be sent to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, for information and necessary compliance.

Read more about the Judgment here: Hookah Bars Can't Operate In UP Even In Designated Smoking Areas: Allahabad High Court Says 'Right To Clean Air' Overrides Right To Trade

Case title - M/s Aftek Foods and Beverages Pvt. Ltd. Thru. Auth. Signatory Vishnu Kumar Gupta and another vs. State of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Deptt. of Food Safety and Drug Admin. U.P. Lko. and others and connected matters 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 763