HC kiss of life for dance bars

The moral police has taken a beating in Maharashtra. On Wednesday, a bench of the Bombay High Court termed the state government?s ban on dance bars in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra unconstitutional and set it aside.

The moral police has taken a beating in Maharashtra. On Wednesday, a bench of the Bombay High Court termed the state government’s ban on dance bars in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra unconstitutional and set it aside.

HT Image

It gave the government eight weeks to file an appeal against the verdict. Licences of the bars will only be renewed after this period.

The court said the ban contravened the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression and also the right to life.

Dance bars were banned in August last year after the state goverment introduced an amendment in the Mumbai Police Act.

The court said the ban prohibited dance only at a certain class of establishments and exempted others. This, it said, was
unconstitutional.