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SC to hear plea against Maharashtra’s new laws on dance bar
The BJP-led state government has defended the new restrictions in the top court, saying the guidelines intend to “protect the dignity of women performing a dance in the bar rooms”.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear the petition of bar owners challenging the Maharashtra government’s new law imposing new regulations on dance bars in the state.
The BJP-led state government has defended the new restrictions in the top court, saying the guidelines intend to “protect the dignity of women performing a dance in the bar rooms”.
Contesting the restaurant owners’ claim that the law makes “obscene dance” punishable without defining the word obscene, the state said it was not necessary to define the word.
“An ordinary prudent man can certainly tell that which dance is designed only to arouse the prurient interest of the audience,” the government affidavit, filed through the state’s counsel Nishant R Katneshwarkar, stated.
The document also gave reasons why the new law stipulates that a bar room, where dance performances would take place, should shut down by 11:30 pm.
“In case the women who perform dance are required to stay back for long hours at night, there may be some untoward incidents which may result in an increase in sexual and other offences related to women,” it said.
It also strongly opposed the owners’ request to do away with the stipulation that prohibits showering of money on dancers.
“Performance of a dance is neither a table service nor a service. Therefore, no question of giving of tip for the performance of a dance arises,” the affidavit said.
The state said it was not desirous of banning dance performance in hotels or bars. But it desires to regulate the dance performance in a bar so as to protect the dignity of women performing a dance.
The Maharashtra government banned dance bars in the state in 2005, rendering an estimated 150,000 people — half of them dancers — jobless. The Bombay high court struck down the government order in 2006 but the state challenged it in the SC, which allowed a stay on grant of licence.
The top court upheld the high court ruling in 2013 before finally lifting the ban in October last year.
The Dance Bar Regulation Bill was passed by the Maharashtra assembly on April 13, which included 26 conditions bar owners needed to comply with to get licences.
However, dance bar owners petitioned the top court, protesting some of the provisions in the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women (working therein) Act, 2016.
