The Supreme Court (SC,) on the 17th of January, 2019, overruled the dance bar ban imposed by the Maharashtra Government.
The Maharashtra Government, in the year 2005, prohibited dance bars and implemented strict rules, making it a hurdle for the owners to get licenses for dance bars, in Mumbai.
A bench of the SC, comprising of Justice A.K. Sikri, Ashok Bhushan and S.A. Nazeer, reviewed the petitions filed by the restaurant and bar owners and lifted the 13 year old ban.
The Top Court said, “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.”
Speaking about the rules, the Apex Court said, “You cannot have a situation where everyone is denied. There may be regulations but cannot amount to total prohibition.” The Court further added, “It is an unreasonable condition to impose in a place like Mumbai. Let the legislature to prescribe a reasonable distance.”
According to the previous rule imposed by the Maharashtra Government, a dance bar should have a minimum distance of 1 km from a religious place and educational institutions. The other rule which the SC quashed is the installation of CCTV cameras in the dance bars. This rule was struck down on the grounds that it invades the privacy and questions the character of the bar owners. The rule to maintain a partition between the bar rooms and dance floor was also struck down.
The SC also spoke about the fixed salaries of the dancers and said, “A dance bar can have a written contract with a dancer but government cannot fix monthly salary for a dancer. This is a matter entirely between employee and employers.”
However, the SC supported one of the rules by the Maharashtra Government, which specifies, the timings of the bars must be from 6:00 P.M., to 11:30 P.M. Another restriction eased by the SC was the showering of coins on the dancers. A customer can instead give a tip to the dancer directly.
Nishant Katneshwarkar, the Maharashtra Government’s lawyer expressed happiness about the new rules and said, “We are happy with the government. Our main intention was to protect the bar girls and that has been upheld by the court. Whoever comes to us fulfilling the conditions, we will give licenses.”
The judgement of the Apex Court paved the way for the bar owners to get a license by following the rules.
Social media platforms such as Twitter were flooded with the tweets regarding the judgement of the Supreme Court.
SC allows #dancebars in Maharashtra, tips for dancers allowed, no showering of notes on dancers, no CCTVs in dance vars allowed as violates privacy
— Suparna Singh (@Suparna_Singh) January 17, 2019
#MumbaiDanceBarAct:
» SC relaxes stringent conditions set by Maharashtra govt for getting licences for running #DanceBars and upheld the time of 5.5 hrs for dance performances
» SC allows orchestra, tips can be given but showering of cash and coins is not allowed inside bars pic.twitter.com/miJm8sYsH9— EconomicTimes (@EconomicTimes) January 17, 2019
Supreme Court allows #DanceBars in Maharashtra after striking down some stringent provisions imposed by state government. Dances can take place from 6:30-11pm every day. SC also orders removal of CCTV from inside dance bars as invasion of privacy @GoNews24x7 pic.twitter.com/uWXDRsGgPc
— Sidharth Pandey (@SidharthPandey) January 17, 2019
