Bombay HC lifts ban on dance bars

The Bombay High Court has lifted the ban on Mumbai's dance bars.

Rejecting the state's argument that the ban was necessary, the court has ruled that the ban violates Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution.

The state government has eight weeks to file an appeal against the order.

Fresh licences have to be issued to the bars after eight weeks.

Lawyers arguing on behalf of the bar girls' unions have tried to debunk the state's argument that the ban was necessary as existing laws were inadequate to control the menace of dance bars.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Bar Owners Association President Manjit Singh Sethi has been arrested, after the Maharashtra Assembly cleared a privileges committee move ordering 90 days of imprisonment for him.

Moral issue

The dance bar ban, that put nearly 75,000 bar dancers and one lakh others out of work, was largely seen as a victory for Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil.

Patil had claimed the dance bars were a corrupting influence on the youth and a breeding ground for crime.

The campaign began as a crackdown on bars operating without licenses and soon assumed the form of moral policing, later extending to the issue of Bangladeshis working in bars.

As the government pushed for a total shutdown of over 1200 dance bars across the state, thousands of bar girls and NGO workers took to the streets in protest.

But the ban came into effect, prompting concerns that the bar girls may have to turn to prostitution. Three girls also committed suicide.

It was these protests that prompted people associated with the dance bars to file four different public interest litigations in the Bombay High Court on grounds that the ban is against the fundamental right to livelihood.