This case came before the Supreme Court of India, on appeal, against a Bombay High Court verdict striking down the Maharashtra government’s statewide ban on dance performances in bars. The ban dates back to August 2005, and prohibited ‘any type of dancing' in an "eating house, permit room or beer bar", but made an exception for dance performances in three stars hotels and above, and other elite establishments. The State justified the ban by asserting that bar dancing corrupts morals, fuels trafficking, and prostitution, and causes exploitation of women bar dancers. Due to the ban, 75,000 women workers became unemployed. Many did not have other marketable skills. Statistics show that 68 percent of bar dancers were sole bread earners of their families. While a rehabilitation program was in place, it was not enforced. Unemployment and financial hardship forced several erstwhile women bar dancers to leave the state or resort to prostitution, while much-committed suicide.  

On July 16th, 2013, the Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, upheld the rights of bar dancers. The judgment affirmed the Bombay High Court decision which found that the prohibition on dancing violated the right to carry on one’s a profession/occupation under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, and that banning dances in some establishments while allowing them in others infringed upon the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court noted that “The restrictions in the nature of prohibition cannot be said to be reasonable, inasmuch as there could be several lesser alternatives available which would have been adequate to ensure the safety of women than to completely prohibit dance…”  The decision excoriates the ban stating that the “cure is worse than the disease” given that contrary to its purpose, the ban resulted in many women being forced into prostitution. The Court urged that it would be more appropriate to bring about measures that ensure safety and improve the working conditions of bar dancers.  Instead of putting curbs on women’s freedom, empowerment would be a more tenable and socially wise approach.

The Court, however, upheld the following provisions

1. Provision disallowing throwing or showering coins and currency notes on the performers.
2. The provision relating to employer and performer entering into a written contract as well as depositing of the remuneration in the bank accounts
3. Provision prescribing timing of such dance performances only between 6 pm to 11:30 pm

Before parting with the judgment, the Court also noticed that many conditions were stipulated in the Act for obtaining the license, which is virtually impossible to perform. On this, the Court said:

“It is this reason that not a single establishment has been issued a license under the impugned Act even when it was passed in the year 2014. In fact, after the amendment in the Maharashtra Police Act in 2005, no licenses have been granted for dance bars. Thus, even when the impugned Act appears to be regulatory in nature, the real consequences and effects are to prohibit such dance bars. The State, thereby, is aiming to achieve something indirectly which it could not do directly. Such a situation is beyond comprehension and cannot be countenanced.”

The Court said that it hoped that after this judgment, the applications for grant of license shall now be considered more objectively and with an open mind so that there is no complete ban on staging dance performances at designated places prescribed in the Act.

Enforcement of the Decision and Outcomes

Enforcement has been particularly difficult in this case due to political opposition. Even though the Supreme Court had struck down the ban, the police did not process the licenses necessary for the bars to reopen, and for the dancers to resume their work, as they had not received an order to do so from the state government. In the wake of the judgment, the state government had immediately begun to consider various options to counter the verdict. The Supreme Court, in May 2014, upon being petitioned, issued a contempt notice for non-compliance to the Maharashtra government, but to no avail. In fact, just a year after the Supreme Court judgment, the Maharashtra government in June 2014 passed a law to continue the ban on dance performances in bars across the state. This law now extended to all establishments, including elite ones.

 On 24th July 2015, the Supreme Court heard a petition filed by the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association challenging this second ban on dance bars. The petition noted that the State Government had blatantly disregarded the Supreme Court judgment in 2013. The Supreme Court has twice before directed the state to reply to this current petition without success. Now the Supreme Court has again given the state government three weeks as a final opportunity to file its reply and has adjourned the matter for hearing after seven weeks. As the legal battle continues a full decade after the first ban, the fate of over 75,000 women continues to be on hold.