Maharashtra
ban on dance bars struck down
Mumbai:
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday lifted the Maharashtra
Government's ban on dance bars and permitted those with
valid licences to resume operations. The High Court gave
the state government eight weeks' time to file a reply on
the verdict. The verdict declared on the petition filed
by Association of Hotels and Restaurants (AHAR), Dance Bar
Owners' Association (DBOA), Bharatiya Bar Girls' Union (BBGU)
and others challenged the Bombay Police (Amendment) Act,
which was enforced on August 15, 2005. The government has
introduced the bill imposing ban on dance bars on the grounds
that it create law and order problem and the dancers also
indulge in prostitution. "The state was trying to supplant
its political agenda with a ban and was shying away from
its responsibility of regulating the activity," senior lawyer,
V R Manohar said.
As
per the figures presented by senior counsel Aspi Chinoy,
who represented BBGU, not a single licence was cancelled
in the 2,793 cases, initiated against dance bars by the
city police between 2000 and 2005. Commenting on the state's
argument that the ban on the dance bars was important because
existing laws were insufficient to manage the menace, Chinoy
said when the government says that dance bar owners know
how to get around the law, it is actually pointing fingers
at its own staff. The petitioners contended that by banning
dance bars and exempting 3-star and 5-star hotels, the Maharashtra
government discriminated between two sections of society.
They alleged that this was in blatant disregard to Article
14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before
law.
The
Maharashtra government on March 30, 2005 had banned dance
bars across the state, except Mumbai. The ban was extended
to Mumbai on April 12. The reason that the government gave
for the ban was that these bars corrupt the youth. Soon
after the decision, the bar dancers had joined hands to
oppose the ban. Most of them said they had families to feed
and this was the only job which paid them enough. Even several
bar dancers, who had been rendered jobless by the Maharashtra
government's ban on dance bars, have committed suicide as
they were the only sole breadwinners of their families.
The Maharashtra Government had refused to compensate bar
dancers after the ban came into effect.
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