The Bombay High Court had in 2006 quashed the ban imposed by the Mumbai police under the impugned provisions of the Act on dance shows in bars and restaurants on the ground that they were obscene.
Eight years after the Maharashtra government banned dance bars in Mumbai, the Supreme Court on Tuesday gave its go-ahead to their reopening in the maximum city.
Deciding on the constitutionality of the ban on dance performances in bars in Maharashtra imposed under the *Bombay Police (Amendment) Act of 2005, the apex court gave its order in favour of the bar owners and dancers’ union who had contended that the ban on bar dances in some establishments while permitting them in others was contrary to the rule of equality enshrined in Article 14.
The Act had prohibited ‘any type of dancing’ in an “eating house, permit room or beer bar” while allowing dance performances in three star and above hotels and other ‘elite’ establishments.
The Supreme Court had taken up the case after the state government contested the 2006 Bombay High Court order that the Act prohibiting dancing violated the right to carry on one’s profession under Article 19 of the Constitution. The HC also held that banning dances in some establishments while permitting them in others was contrary to the rule of equality.
The state government had sought to justify the ban in public interest, alleging that bar dancing is obscene and vulgar and depraves morals, fuels trafficking and prostitution and causes exploitation of women who dance in the bars.
The Bombay High Court had in 2006 quashed the ban imposed by the Mumbai police under the impugned provisions of the Act on dance shows in bars and restaurants on the ground that they were obscene, titillating and many of the girls were indulging in prostitution.
The apex court had in 2006, admitted the state government's appeal against the high court verdict striking down the legislation as being "unconstitutional".
According to the Maharashtra government, the legislation banning dance performances in beer bars was not an overnight decision, but a conscious move, following several complaints that dance bars and certain eateries were operating as prostitution rackets posing law and order problems.
*The Bombay Police (Amendment) Act of 2005, claimed that dance bars contravened the licensing terms for places of public amusement by “permitting performance of dances in an indecent, obscene or vulgar manner,” that this was “giving rise to the exploitation of women,” and that the dancing was both “derogatory to the dignity of women” and “likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals”.
From the archives:
Why were dance bars banned? HC asks state
Mumbai had more than 35 dance bars and about 2,000 bar dancers
Bar girls rights violated: Panel
33 per cent bar girls support ban: Govt
Sex diseases on rise after bar ban: Tests
Tarannum the bar dance, more than many, epitomises the Mumbai can-do spirit
Bar girls: Banned in Mumbai, trafficked to Dubai
Bar these girls for society's sake: Vijay Kamble
Book review: Beautiful thing: An account of a reporter's journey into the world of Mumbai's bar dancers
Supreme Court clears decks for dance bars in Mumbai; state govt to reappeal against decision
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