SC lifts ban on dance bars, but says no cash showers'

Mumbai/Delhi: Dance bars may return to Maharashtra after the Supreme Court on Thursday held that the state government can regulate them but it cannot ban them. The apex court relaxed some of the tough, moralistic rules that the Maharashtra government had introduced for dance bars through a 2016 law, saying “liquor and dance can co-exist”.

It, however, upheld some key conditions for getting licences. Dance performances can take place only between 6 pm and 11.30 pm and dancers cannot be showered with cash though they can be handed cash tips by patrons.

The court also ruled that there has to be a work contract between the dancers and bar owners and payments to dancers have to be deposited directly into their bank accounts.

While dealing with the state’s challenge to Mumbai high court’s order that termed the ban on dance as “ultra vires to the Article that gives right to practice any profession,” the bench of the apex court headed by Justice A.K. Sikri, and including Justice Ashok Bhushan, observed that the end result of prohibition on any form of dancing in establishments covered under Section 33-A leads to the only conclusion that these establishments have to shut down.

“From 2005 till date, not a single person has been given licence (for dance bars). It cannot be done. There can be regulations but it cannot amount to total prohibition… This has led to the unemployment of over 75,000 women workers,” the bench said.

“In our opinion, the impugned legislation has proved to be totally counter-productive and cannot be sustained being ultra vires Article 19(1)(g),” it added.

The SC on Thursday also quashed the provisions of the 2016 law which mandated that there must be a partition between bar rooms and the dance floor, mandatory installation of CCTVs, disallowed serving of liquor in performance area and that dance bars should be one kilometre away from religious places and educational institutions. The bench called the last provision “unconstitutional”.

According to the judges, the activities of eating-houses, permit rooms and beer bars are controlled by, among others, the Bombay Police Act, 1951. The bench said that rules under the Act have been framed in the interest of public safety and social welfare and to safeguard the dignity of women as well as prevent their exploitation.

“There is no material placed on record by the state to show that it was not possible to deal with the situation within the framework of existing laws except for the unfounded conclusions recorded in the Preamble as well as the Statement of Objects and Reasons,” observed the bench.

On Section 294 of IPC, which deals with obscene acts and songs, the court said it cannot be denied that dance performances, in dignified forms, are socially acceptable and nobody takes exceptions to it. It added that since obscenity is treated as immoral, obscene dance performance may not be acceptable and the state can pass a law prohibiting such dances. However, it observed that “a practice which may not be immoral by societal standards cannot be thrusted upon the society as immoral by the state with its own notion of morality and thereby exercise social control”.

The SC said the state can neither exercise “social control” with its own “notion of morality” nor take exception to staging dance performances per se.

The court also quashed and set aside the rule which states that a person is entitled to obtain or hold licence who possesses a good character and antecedents and should not have any history of criminal record in the past 10 years.

The bench held, “It is not spelled out as to whether such a criminal record is based on conviction in a case or mere lodging of FIR would be termed as criminal record. We, therefore, quash the provision in the present form, but, at the same time, give liberty to the rule making authority to have suitable provision of precise nature.”

On August 15, 2005, the Maharashtra government had banned all dance bars in Mumbai to “prevent immoral activities, trafficking of women and to ensure the safety of women in general”. As many as 700 dance bars across Mumbai and Maharashtra were shut down. The ban also pushed nearly 75,000 bar girls out of jobs, reportedly forcing many into prostitution.