Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Maharashtra government to examine whether it can “modify” certain provisions of the Bombay Police Act to ban only “obscene and objectionable” form of dance in bars,hotels and restaurants.
“We do not want them (dancers) to go from the bars and restaurants to the streets,” a three-judge bench of Altamas Kabir,S S Nijjar and Gyan Sudha Mishra observed,while granting the state two weeks time to examine the idea. The apex court felt that dance by itself cannot be considered as obscene,as banning the activity may render thousands of dancers jobless,thus pushing them to the streets.
“We have children dancing. Couples dancing at different places. There are dance floors. That by itself does not make it obscene or objectionable,” the bench remarked,asking ex-Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium appearing for the state to examine whether sections 33,34 of the Bombay Police Act could be modified to ban only obscene and objectionable dance forms. The Bombay High Court had in 2006 quashed the ban imposed by the Mumbai police under the impugned provisions of the Act on dance shows in bars and restaurants on the ground that they were obscene,titillating and many of the girls were indulging in prostitution.
The apex court had in 2006,admitted the state government’s appeal against the high court verdict striking down the legislation as being “unconstitutional”.
