Top court relaxes law on dance bars

New Delhi, January 17

Decks were cleared for the return of dance bars in Maharashtra with the Supreme Court today quashing some of the stringent restrictions imposed by the state government that made it virtually impossible to get licences for these entertainment establishments.

In a relief to dance bar owners and employees, the apex court held there can be “regulations” but not “total prohibition” and also overturned the rule that prohibited serving alcohol in the bars.

The Bench, however, upheld the provision restricting the timing of operation of dance bars from 6 pm to 11.30 pm and allowed tips to be directly given to the performers but disallowed showering of currency on them.

Setting aside some provisions of a 2016 Act that imposed restrictions on licensing and functioning, a Bench headed by Justice AK Sikri said no licences have been granted for dance bars after the amendment to the Maharashtra Police Act in 2005.

“From 2005 to 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,” said the two-judge Bench that also included Justice Ashok Bhushan while pronouncing the judgment.

The court also quashed the provisions of the Act like the mandatory installations of CCTV cameras in the dance bars, saying they violated privacy. It set aside the provision which mandated there must be a partition between bar rooms and the dance floor.

Dealing with a condition of the Act which stipulated that dance bars should be located at least one kilometre away from educational and religious institutions, the court said it amounted to “fulfilling an impossible condition” as it is difficult to find any place in Mumbai which is one kilometre away from such institutions.

Regarding a Rule under the Act which stipulated that only those who possess a ‘good character’ and have no criminal record for last 10 years, were entitled to hold licence for dance bars, the Bench said these terms were “not definite or precise”. — PTI