SC allows dance bars for now in Mumbai

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to permit dance bars in Mumbai, with the rider that performances shouldn’t in any way be obscene or violate the dignity of women, raising the prospect of such establishments resuming business a decade after being banned.

Bar and restaurant owners represented by their associations had sought their reopening, as had the dancers for whom this was a means of livelihood.

The ban had been imposed because the bars were seen as exploitative and a corrupting influence. The rider in Thursday’s ruling leaves the Maharashtra government free to regulate the shows for obscenity, which is a matter of interpretation.

Those who act on behalf of the state could, on the grounds of regulating obscenity, employ this as a tool of harassment, some l e g al exper t s warned.

But CM Devendra Fadnavis said the state government would continue to seek a ban. “Although the Supreme Court interim order mandates regulation instead of ban on dance bars, government still favours ban. We will examine and press our demand in SC,” the chief minister tweeted.

The court directed Maharashtra to process licences for such bars and restaurants. The state, represented by additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta and standing counsel Nishant Katneshwarkar, did not oppose the decision to lift an earlier stay on such performances. The court criticised the state for a 2014 law that was a replica of an earlier law that had been struck down.