Tags
AFP/New Delhi
The Supreme Court yesterday overturned a ban on dance bars in Mumbai, allowing hundreds of premises which employed women to dance and entertain customers to reopen.
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The regulations include early closing hours for nightclubs, excessive red tape, outdated rules on overcrowding and an increase in the minimum age limit to buy alcohol from 18 to 21.
Supreme Court judges Altamas 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”.
Yesterday’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 prostitution. 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 are no comments.
SPORT Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when you are saying farewell to those that have left a positive impression. That was the case earlier this month when Canada hosted Mexico in a friendly at BC Place stadium in Vancouver.
TECHNOLOGY Some 60mn primary-school-age children have no access to formal education
CULTURE Lekhwiya’s El Arabi scores the equaliser after Tresor is sent off; Tabata, al-Harazi score for QSL champions
ARABIA The Yemeni Minister of Tourism, Dr Mohamed Abdul Majid Qubati, yesterday expressed hope that the 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen declared by the Command of Coalition Forces on Saturday will be maintained in order to lift the siege imposed on Taz City and ease the entry of humanitarian aid to the besieged
ARABIA Some 200 teachers from schools across the country attended Qatar Museum’s (QM) first ever Teachers Council at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) yesterday.
ARABIA The Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) of Qatar and the Indonesian Supreme Court (SCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on judicial co-operation, it was announced yesterday.
ECONOMY Sri Lanka is keen on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar as part of government policy to shift to clean energy, Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem has said.
