State will still find a way to bar the dance bars: Eknath Khadse

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government seems to be sticking to its resolve to keep the dance bars closed even if the final verdict of the Supreme Court goes against it. On Friday , revenue minister Eknath Khadse said it unequivocally that the state does not want dance bars to reopen. "The Supreme Court's final order has not come yet, however, we would forcefully argue our point.Our stand till the end would be that dance bars should not be allowed to restart. If the judgment goes against us, then we will study it and try to see whether there were any oopholes in our Act and try to fix it with amendments," said Khadse.

The minister said that even without amendments or a new law, the state could put restrictions on dance bars and one of the options could be imposing extra tax. "We could put restrictions on the use of loudspeakers or we could simply specify that the dance bars should be open only till 7 pm," said Khadse.

A former dance bar owner said that if the state government resorts to such moves, then it would serve no purpose to run a dance bar. "People used to flock to dance bars only after 9.30 pm to 10 pm. If you ask us to close by 7 pm, then how will we function," he said on condition of anonymity. He admitted that there were a number of black sheep in the profession who had sullied the image of the dance bars by making the bar girls indulge in prostitution, but the government was punishing every dance bar owner for the crimes of a few. "We have been openly saying that the government should prosecute those involved in illegal rackets in dance bars, but you should let those function who are legitimately running their business," said the former bar owner.

Manjeet Singh Sethi, former president of the Dance Bar Association, who on Thursday reacted to the judgment by saying that the state should not make it an ego issue, adopted a more cautious approach.

"It is a fact all political parties in the state have said openly that they don't want dance bars to reopen. We are not in a position to agitate. We are consulting our senior most counsel and we will see what legal recourse we could take," said Sethi.