Kochi bar hotel owner arrested for allowing women to serve liquor

The Kerala Excise Department has registered a case against the manager of a bar hotel in Kochi for hiring foreign women to serve liquor in its newly opened pub and not maintaining the stock register.

The owner of the recently-opened Fly-High pub at Harbour View Hotel near Cochin Shipyard was arrested and released on bail after violation of several licence conditions were found during an inspection by Excise officials on Monday night.

Officials said that as per the provisions under Foreign Liquor Act in Kerala, women are not allowed to be used in bars and pubs to serve liquor.

The Excise team conducted the search after visuals of women serving liquor surfaced on social media.

The Harbour View Hotel authorities had reportedly run a social media campaign, claiming that Fly-High was the first pub in Kerala. Several people from the film industry had attended the inauguration of the renovated bar on Saturday.

The hotel authorities, citing a Kerala High Court order, argued that there was nothing illegal in women serving alcohol. The Excise department, however, claimed that the court had given exemption to only one hotel in Thiruvananthapuram and the order did not apply to any other bars in the state.