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SC stays ban on dance bars in Maharashtra
The court clarified that fresh licences would be duly considered without the effect of the above prohibition by the state authorities if restaurant owners apply
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a 2014 amendment to the Maharashtra Police Act that prohibited all kinds of dance performances at restaurants, hotels and bars.
A bench of justices Dipak Misra and P.C. Pant found that there was no difference in an earlier provision of the law and the one introduced through the 2014 amendment. The earlier provision was struck down by the Bombay high court in 2006 and the apex court upheld the lower court’s decision in 2013.
“Total prohibition was declared unconstitutional (in 2013). We’ll say that it shouldn’t border on obscenity,” Misra said, during the hearing. The court, in its order, noted that “no performance or dance of any kind shall remotely be expression of any kind of obscenity.”
Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Maharashtra government, conceded that the two provisions were substantially similar. “Prima facie it (the provision) appears similar. Lordships may grant the interim relief (of stay). Let me consult the government,” Mehta told the court.
The court has allowed him to file the government’s affidavit and a chance to argue on 5 November. The order also said that authorities were vested with powers to safeguard dignity of women to prevent abuse.
The 2014 amendment, introduced on 25 June that year, had prohibited “holding of a performance of dance, of any kind of type” in areas like “eating room, permit room or beer bar”. State authorities were not to issue licences for dance performances and existing licences would stand cancelled.
The court clarified on Thursday that fresh licences would be duly considered without the effect of the above prohibition by the state authorities if restaurant owners apply. The Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association had moved the apex court against the 2014 amendment.
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First Published:15 Oct 2015, 02:01 PM IST
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