The Supreme Court’s order paving the way for reopening of dance bars across Maharashtra came as a major setback for the Maharashtra Government which, despite change in political parties at the helm of affairs, has been consistent in its opposition to the revival dance bar culture in the State.
Reacting swiftly to the apex court’s staying Section 33 (A)(1) of the Maharashtra Police (second amendment) Act, 2014 which had banned dance bars in the State, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis indicated that the State Government would appeal against the “interim” order banning the dance bars.
“Although SC interim order mandates regulation instead of ban on dance bars, Govt still favours ban. We will examine & press our demand in SC,” the Chief Minister initially tweeted.
Earlier taking to mediapersons, Fadnavis said: “Going by the information that I have just received, the apex court has stayed our 2014 amendment to the Bombay Police Act. While staying the implementation of the amended act, the court has also said that the State Government will have powers to regulate the dancing bars.”
“I have not received the full order of the Supreme Court. Going by what I know, I do not think dance bars will re-open immediately. We, the Maharashtra Government, fully support the 2014 amendment to the Bombay Police Act. We would like to know first the lacunae based on which the apex stayed the implantation of the amended act. Once we know lacunae or the grounds which the amended act has been stayed, we will able to make necessary amends in the law,” Fadnavis said.
“In fact, when the Supreme Court asked my Government if it supports the amendment brought in by the previous DF Government, we had told the apex court that we were fully in favour of the amendment and we had filed an affidavit to that. Even today, there is no change in our stand that the continuance of dance bars would contribute to questionable culture in the society,” the Chief Minister said.
“The order that the Supreme court has passed is an interim one. We respect that. We will also see how best we can regulate the dance bars along the guidelines given by the apex court. Once we go through the entire judgement of the Supreme Court, we will give our detailed reply on the issue.
It may be recalled that after carrying out necessary amendments in the Bombay Police Act, 1951, the then Congress-NCP alliance Government had on August 14, 2005 had banned dance bars in Maharashtra. While banning the dancing bars, the State Government had dubbed the bars as dens of iniquity and fronts for prostitution and that contended the dance bars corrupted the young and were meeting places for criminals.
Subsequently, the Association of Hotels and Restaurants (AHAR), the Dance Bar Owners’ Association and the Bharatiya Bar Girls’ Union – challenged the legislation saying that it was discriminatory in nature, considering that the State Government had chosen to exempt 3-star and 5-star hotels from the ban order. This, they had contended, amounted infringement of Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before law.
On April 12, 2006, the Bombay High Court struck down a legislation banning dance bars in the State. In its significant ruling on a bunch of PIls challenging the ban on dance bars in the State, a Bench of the high court comprising Justice F I Rebello and Justice Roshan Dalvi had then termed as “unconstitutional” an amendment to the Bombay Police Act, enacted by the State Government in August 2005, and set it aside.