The apex court’s stay on a new law enacted by the Maharashtra government to ban dance bars comes as a whiff of fresh air to thousands of girls who were deprived of their prime source of livelihood on the ground of obscenity ( >“A needless encore , editorial, Oct.19). At the outset, the Maharashtra government erred by merely enacting the same law with only cosmetic changes. Further, one fails to understand why the Devendra Fadnavis government is bent upon banning dance bars instead of regulating them as observed by the apex court. It needs to keep in mind that thousands of girls are dependant on them. It is time the government and the police refrain from harassing the bar dancers. Most of them come from poor families and have taken to bar dancing out of necessity and desperation.
K.R. Srinivasan,
Secunderabad
The apex court’s stay on banning dance bars in Mumbai is a welcome step that upholds the dancers’ freedom of profession, a Fundamental Right under Article 19 (g) of our Constitution. However, no one seems to be bothered to regulate the customers who frequent these dance bars. People belonging to middle class families splurge money on the bars, money that could have better been spent on fulfilling their basic needs.
Mangesh Sonje,
Titwala, Maharashtra