DNA - Mumbai - Bar one, bar all, says court - Daily News & Analysis

Bar one, bar all, says court
Anshika Misra, Friday, April 14, 2006 01:40 IST

MUMBAI: In a hard-hitting criticism of the state government’s double standards, the Bombay High Court’s order striking down the ban on dance bars ruled that, “There can be no different standards of morality for the affluent and the rich availing the means of entertainment and any common person who can afford to visit places of entertainment within his reach.”

The HC on Wednesday struck down the ban on dance bars on the grounds that it was discriminatory as it banned all kind of dance performances in dance bars but exempted establishments like three-star and five-star hotels. The objective behind the ban, which came into effect on August 15, 2005, was to prevent dances which are obscene, vulgar or immoral and hence derogatory to the dignity of women and to prevent exploitation of women. In a sharp criticism of the state’s dual morality, the HC noted that, “Activities, which the banned establishments are accused of, are also indulged in the exempted establishments in spite of so-called socially-conscious or responsible strata of society who visit them.”

The state had justified the exemption granted to hotels saying the exemption was not an indirect license to perform dances as in the prohibited establishments, but to conduct performances by people who have acquired skill in Western and Indian classical dance forms.

Other reasons stated were that the exemption was granted with the object to encourage tourism, five-star hotels are a class by themselves and cannot be compared with dance bars, people visiting these hotels stand on different footing and cannot be compared with people who visit dance bars and hotels are conducted by responsible people/managements who are conscious of their social commitments and obligations.

“Using terms like Indian and Western classical dance is of no consequence as the Act and rules recognise no such distinction. All applicants for performance license have to meet the same requirements and are subject to same restrictions,” the HC’s 257-page order stated.

Justices FI Rebello and Roshan Dalvi held that couples dancing together, ice-skating and ballroom dancing are embedded in cultures of our regions. Therefore, banning all kinds of dance performances was not fair.

The state’s argument on exempting hotels that authorities have opportunity to screen and supervise nature of performances in these establishments was also debunked by the HC. “Provisions of controlling obscene and vulgar dances are the same, whether they are in the prohibited or exempted establishments,” it held. The court held that the ban discriminates between artistes—dance girls dancing in dance bars and Tamasha theatre—and discriminates between the viewers visiting dance bars and Tamasha. “The object cannot be achieved so long as Tamashas theatre, three and five-star hotels are allowed to hold dance performances. There can be no different standards of morality,” the HC held.

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