New Delhi, July 28: The Indian Hotels and Restaurants Association has petitioned the Supreme Court accusing the Maharashtra government of having committed "contempt" by enacting a law that it says is aimed at closing down "dance bars" in the state.
On July 16, 2013, the apex court had struck down as unconstitutional an earlier ban the state had ordered on dance bars under the Maharashtra Police Act, and directed it to grant licences to eligible restaurants.
It had held that the ban violated the fundamental rights of the 75,000 dancers and others involved in the trade to carry out their livelihood and exercise their freedom of speech.
According to the association, the BJP government enacted the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women (Working Therein) Act, 2016, to "circumvent and virtually overrule" that judgment.
The petition says the new law, enforced in April, makes it "impossible to run and establish a dance bar and is leading to a situation of virtual ban on performance of dance of any kind or type in eating houses, permit rooms and beer bars".
For instance, it says, one of the clauses in the new law lays down that "no alcoholic beverage shall be served in the bar room where dances are staged".
Section 2(8)(i) of the act defines "obscene dance" as one "designed only to arouse the prurient interest of the audience" --- a criterion the association finds extremely vague.
Violation of the provision entails a six-month jail term for the owner of the dance bar.
Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code prescribes jail for up to three months with or without a fine for "any obscene act in any public place" or "any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place".
Another provision in the Maharashtra law the association opposes is a ban on the showering of currency notes or coins or anything else that has a monetary value for the dancer's benefit.
The petition also objects to a ban on handing tips to the dancers and several other provisions. The court is expected to hear the petition next week.
