No laughing matter, HC frowns on laughter club

Mumbai: Hearing a petition seeking action against a laughter club in the city, the Bombay High Court has observed that it is not proper to gather outside someone’s house and laugh aloud. The petition, filed by a family, alleged that members of a laughter club called Sheetal Jogging Association gathered at Sheetal Talao in suburban Kurla and laughed loudly causing “mental agony, pain and public nuisance” Justice S A Bobade and Justice Mrudila Bhatkar, yesterday, asked the police to inform within a week what action they plan to take to restrain the laughter club from becoming a nuisance to the people in the area. [caption id=“attachment_349857” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”]  [/caption] During earlier hearing, the court had directed the senior inspector of Vinoba Bhave Nagar police station to ensure that no such nuisance was caused by the club. However, additional public prosecutor Aruna Pai said on Monday that she had no instructions on what action had been taken by the concerned police station and sought time to reply in the matter. The petition said that every morning members assemble at Sheetal Talao at 7 am and sing bhajans and clap loudly. “This is followed by loud and vigorous spells of laughter. They laugh at the top of their voices, every member encourages others to laugh to their heart’s content”, the petition, filed by 78-year-old Vinayak Shirsat, his son Shreeram and his daughter-in-law Deepti, submitted. The petition further said that despite telling the members not to laugh too loudly, they refuse to listen. The judges thereupon remarked “the police must solve this problem. It is causing unnecessary headache”. PTI