The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre, child rights body NCPCR, and the NHRC on a PIL seeking an absolute ban on the employment of children and adolescents in orchestras, dance troupes, massage parlours, and spas.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi took note of the submissions of senior advocate H S Phoolka, appearing for child rights collective 'Just Rights for Children Alliance', and issued the notices to Union ministries of labour and law and justice.
Phoolka argued that minor girls aged 10 and 11 years were being employed in orchestras and dance bars. He also pointed out that some states have made rules of 18 years as the minimum age for spas and massage parlours.
The bench also issued notices to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the National Human Rights Commission on the PIL.
The petition alleged that these sectors had evolved into 'clandestine fronts' for organised trafficking, sexual exploitation, and forced labour of minor girls across the country.
It highlighted a critical 'enforcement vacuum' in the Child and Adolescent Labour Act, 1986, and provided data from rescue operations conducted between March 2025 and May 2026, which said 212 minors were rescued from orchestras and dance groups in Bihar and West Bengal, and 12 minors were rescued from massage parlours and spas in Delhi and Rajasthan.
