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Apex court scraps ban on Mumbai dance bars

The ruling upheld a 2006 judgment by the Bombay High Court, which said the ban instituted by the Maharashtra state government a year earlier violated the constitutional right to earn a living.

The decision comes amid concerns over “moral policing” in Mumbai, India’s financial capital and the home of Bollywood, where police in recent years have enforced a series of strict measures. The regulations include early closing hours for nightclubs, excessive red tape and outdated rules on overcrowding.

Supreme Court judges Altamash Kabir and S.S. Nijjar said they agreed with the high court’s decision “that struck down the 2005 amendment in the Bombay Police Act whereby closing 
down dance bars in the city of Mumbai”.

Tuesday’s decision will allow dance bars to operate legally after a forced hiatus of several years, while the state government appealed the high court ruling.

The estimated 700 establishments across Maharashtra state employ more than 75,000 women who perform Bollywood-style dance routines and get showered with cash in return.

The state government had branded the bars in Mumbai as dens of iniquity and fronts for flesh trade. It claimed they corrupted the young and were meeting places for criminals.

Bar owners, activists and non-governmental organisations hotly contested the ban and denied the allegations, saying the establishments only staged dance shows.

There was no immediate 
comment on the ruling from the state government, which has waged a long campaign against the dance bars.

The dancers’ labour union had opposed the ban, saying many of its members would be forced into flesh trade to earn a living.