Devices used for body massage cannot be classified as sex toys. Also, the High Court has clarified that it cannot be included in the list of prohibited items. Also, the court quashed the order passed by the customs department to confiscate the body massage equipment.
Body massagers can be used as sex toys. Therefore, the Commissioner of Customs had ordered the seizure of these devices, claiming that import of such devices was prohibited. However, a bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Justice Kishore Sant observed that the idea that body massage devices can be used as sex toys comes from the idea of the Commissioner of Customs. Not only this, the bench also dismissed the customs department's plea challenging the order of the Central Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal that the conclusion reached by the Commissioner of Customs was strange and surprising.
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Devices for body massage are traded in the domestic market and are not considered contraband. Therefore, the Court also observed that the Customs Commissioner had an idea or his personal opinion that body massage equipment was a prohibited item. The Court while upholding the Tribunal's order also observed that the Commissioner of Customs had failed to discharge his duty as a discretionary officer.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Customs had in April 2022, as the adjudicating authority, stated that the equipment used for body massage was a sex toy. Also, the customs notification dated January 1964 stated that importation of these equipment was prohibited and the seizure was ordered. The equipment manufacturers had approached the Appellate Tribunal against this order of the Commissioner. In May 2023, the tribunal quashed the order of the Commissioner of Customs and stayed the order.
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