Parvati Valley And Rave Tourism: How Himachal Pradesh’s Party Economy Reached Supreme Court
Parvati Valley And Rave Tourism: How Himachal Pradesh’s Party Economy Reached Supreme Court Published By, Last Updated: July 28, 2026, 15:47 IST A petition by
Parvati Valley And Rave Tourism: How Himachal Pradesh’s Party Economy Reached Supreme Court Published By, Last Updated: July 28, 2026, 15:47 IST A petition by Himalayan Environment Protection Society alleged that rave parties were being organised in the name of tourism in Kasol, Jibhi, Manali and other parts of Kullu Rapid Read A fresh trigger came in June 2026, when reports highlighted a large music event near Kasol scheduled from June 7 to June 11. For years, Himachal Pradesh’s Parvati Valley has occupied a strange space in India’s tourism landscape. The villages of Kasol, Tosh, Chalal and Pulga are celebrated by backpackers for their Himalayan scenery, music festivals and psytrance culture. But the same region has also been repeatedly linked to allegations of drug abuse, illegal parties and weak enforcement. This uneasy balance between tourism and regulation has now turned into a major legal battle that has reached the Supreme Court. The controversy began through a set of public interest litigations before the Himachal Pradesh High Court, including one filed by the Himalayan Environment Protection Society. The petition alleged that rave parties were being organised in the name of tourism in Kasol, Jibhi, Manali and other parts of Kullu, where narcotic substances were openly consumed and sold under political patronage and administrative protection. The petition claimed that entry tickets for some such events ranged from Rs 5,000 to as high as Rs 7 lakh.
A fresh trigger came in June 2026, when reports highlighted a large music event near Kasol scheduled from June 7 to June 11. According to material placed before the court, ticket prices were reported to be between Rs 10,000 and Rs 16,000 per person, with visitors arriving from Delhi, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Goa and even Israel. The event was expected to attract several thousand participants. Taking serious note, the High Court asked the Kullu District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to inspect the venue and sought personal affidavits from the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Superintendent of Police (SP). The DLSA report became central to the case. It stated that permission for sound and music had been granted on June 6 despite an adverse report submitted a day earlier by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, who had warned that the isolated venue was vulnerable to drug trafficking and unlawful activities and that the local police lacked sufficient manpower to monitor a crowd expected to exceed 3,000 people. The inspection reportedly found infrastructure capable of accommodating about 4,000-5,000 people, temporary toilets, large quantities of empty liquor bottles, rolling papers commonly associated with cannabis use, refrigerators stocked with alcohol and high-powered DJ equipment. The court also recorded that two tourists were allegedly found with cocaine and LSD, and that a Russian national who had performed as a DJ was suspected to have died due to a drug overdose, though the cause was subject to medical examination.
The BriefWire