Agreeing with the contention that there are alternatives to a ban on dance performances to ensure safety of women, the Supreme Court on Thursday ushered dance back into the beer parlours and hotels of the Maximum City by staying a legal provision in the Maharashtra Police Act prohibiting the entertainment.
But the court gave a free hand to authorities to crackdown on these performances if they are found to be “remotely expressive of any kind of obscenity in any manner”.
The order by a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and P.C. Pant comes as a relief to women who lost their jobs and slipped into prostitution and penury due to the clampdown after the Maharashtra State Assembly, in July 2014, circumvented a 2013 Supreme Court decision that upheld that “dancing is a fundamental right”.
The court however told authorities to continue to keep a hawk'e eye on establishments which open their doors for dance performances. It gave officials a free hand "to take steps so that the individual dignity of a woman is not affected and there remains no room for any kind of obscenity measures”.
The interim order came on a petition filed by the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association for judicial declaration that Section 33A inserted by way of an amendment by Maharashtra Police (Second Amendment) Act, 2014 is unconstitutional. The bench listed the matter for final disposal on November 5.
This is the second time the Supreme Court locked horns with the Maharshtra establishment over prohibition on dance performances in bars, hotels and restaurants, mostly in Mumbai.
Justice Misra's detailed order pronounced in open court at the end of the hearing delves into the history of the legal struggle against the prohibition in the State.
The State introduced the “prohibition of performance of dance in eating house, permit room or beer bar” first in August 2005. Violations meant imprisonment extending to three years and with fine which may extend to rupees two lakhs.
However a challenge to the law saw the Bombay High Court in April 2006 declare the prohibition “unconstitutional”.
“The end result of the prohibition of any form of dancing in the establishments covered under Section 33A leads to the only conclusion that these establishments have to shut down. This is evident from the fact that since 2005, most, if not all dance bar establishments have literally closed down. This has led to the unemployment of over 75,000 women workers. It has been brought on the record that many of them have been compelled to take up prostitution out of necessity for maintenance of their families,” Justice Misra reproduced Bombay High Court's observations in its 2006 order.
The High Court had held that Maharashtra's decision to ban dance performances proved to be “totally counterproductive”.
A subsequent appeal by the State in the Supreme Court was of no use as the apex court agreed with the High Court in 2013, and seconded that the prohibition was violative of the fundamental rights in the Constitution.
It had agreed in 2013 that Maharashtra “failed to establish that the restriction is reasonable or that it is in the interest of general public”.
“Greater the restriction, the more the need for scrutiny. Instead of putting curbs on women’s freedom, empowerment would be more tenable and socially-wise approach,” it had held.
It was to defeat this apex court ruling that the State Legislature had brought back prohibition through an amendment on June 25, 2014, this time even enhancing the fine to Rs. 5 lakh.
