The Supreme Court on Monday described a 55-year-old tradition in the Indian film industry, mainly Bollywood, which allows only men to be employed as make-up artists, as “unconstitutional, illegal and the worst kind of gender discrimination”.

“Why cannot a female put make up on a male actor? We are living in 2014 and not 1850 or 1935. A clause or rule that creates such discrimination cannot be sustained. There cannot be exclusion like this,” the bench said, while summoning the registrar of the trade union of the film industry to court on November 10 to explain the situation.

The court noted that this attitude is more prevalent in big cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Kochi.

Acting on a petition filed by a group of women make-up artists, led by Charu Khurana, the court had at the last hearing asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to compile data on such discrimination and file a comprehensive affidavit. This affidavit was taken up on Monday. The bench also made the National Commission for Women a party to the case.

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