Supreme Court seeks Maharashtra govt response on dance bar curbs
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to the Maharashtra government on a plea filed by an association of women dancers, waitresses, singers and other performers working in bars and hotels. In their petition, the association has challenged the constitutional validity of a 2016 state law putting conditions on dance performances in restaurants and bars.
A division bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice R.F. Nariman sought response from the Maharashtra government on the plea filed by the Bharatiya Bargirls Union within four weeks and posted the matter for hearing on April 20. The bench also clubbed the matter of the Bharatiya Bargirls Union along with a related petition filed by the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA), which challenged the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women Act, 2016, and the rules framed under it.
Saying that the new Act "stigmatised our work", the Bharatiya Bargirls Union has termed it as arbitrary and violative of their right to earn a livelihood through legitimate means. It alleged that the term "obscene dance" in the Act has been deliberately kept vague to allow the police to harass women performers. The new law unreasonably interferes with free choice of expression through dramatic performances and the right of women to practise the occupation of self-expression through such dramatic performances, said the plea.
Speaking to the Free Press Journal, Bharat Thakur, chairman of the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association, said, “The government is just not ready to issue licences to dance bars. The police have booked bar owners for obscenity,” adding, “The government will never listen to us or understand our point of view. Even we want transparency to run a legal business.”
Pravin Agarwal, secretary of Mumbai Hotels Association, said, “I feel that it is sheer hypocrisy of the state government. Despite, the Supreme Court issuing directives earlier to start the dance bars in adherence to the guidelines, the Maharashtra government is not ready to listen to the apex court.”
The 2016 law for regulating dance bars came after the apex court on July 16, 2013, struck down the restrictions imposed by the state police on the dance performances of any type in an eating house, permit room or beer bar. On September 21 last year, the Supreme Court directed that dance bars in Maharashtra would continue to operate under the old terms that permitted serving of liquor and CCTV cameras would be installed only at the entrance area. The court, however, did not put on hold the new rules that require installation of CCTV cameras in the dance bar area, limit the timing of the dances from 6 pm to 11.30 pm and prohibit serving of liquor in the bar room where dances are staged.