This Article is From Mar 02, 2016

Maharashtra Dance Bars To Reopen, No Cameras On Dancers: Supreme Court

Maharashtra Dance Bars To Reopen, No Cameras On Dancers: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has given dance bar owners three days to comply with the rules. (File Photo)

Highlights

  • Top Court nod for Maharashtra dance bars, alters rules for licenses
  • No camera on dancers, three-foot high non-removable partitions: Court
  • Court told state govt to grant licenses within 10 days after bars comply
New Delhi: No security cameras will be allowed in the performance areas of dance bars, the Supreme Court ruled today, modifying seven conditions set by Maharashtra Police for granting licences.

Police stations will also not get live feed of video from the dance bars, the Supreme Court said. It has ordered three-foot-high non-removable partitions between the performance areas and audience.

"It is not a case of security in that sense. We also want to ensure safety bereft of obscenity. CCTV to be fitted only at the entrance of the dance bars," the court said.

Senior advocate Rajiv Dhawan who appeared for a dance bar girls union opposed CCTV cameras saying, "CCTV in shops and restaurants are installed to ensure no one steals. What will be shown in CCTV are not just the bar dancers but patrons some of whom may not want to be identified."

Clearing the decks for issuing dance bar licences to hotels and restaurants in Mumbai, the top court has given three days to prospective owners to comply with the new conditions after which they will be issued licenses within 10 days.

The court order came after the Maharashtra government watered down some of the conditions for granting of dance bar licences.

The Maharashtra government had banned dance bars in 2005. But in October last year the Supreme Court had overruled the state, saying that those working there had a right to livelihood.

An estimated 70,000 women used to work in Mumbai's dance bars before the ban. Their association says that many have been left jobless and some forced to find more dangerous employment.

While sources in the Maharashtra Police say that they are considering deploying undercover policemen to ensure that no unlawful activities take place inside the dance bars, the state continues to challenge the matter in Court.

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