Bar dancers will be back in Maharahtra

New Delhi: Dance bars will be back in business soon in Maharashtra following the Supreme Court stay on a law banning dance performance in bars, hotels and restaurants around the state. The court however said the dignity of women should be protected and it is the duty of the state police to ensure that it was done.

Maharashtra’s law, which banned dance performances was very similar to previous law that was declared unconstitutional by the apex court, said a bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant. The apex court had, in 2009, struck down a similar law saying that banning dance performances was unconstitutional. After that, the state government passed another law

We are happy with the decision of court," said Bharat Singh Thakur, president of the Dance Bar Association. "We always respected the dignity of women. We have been running dance bars since 1997 and there was no complaint against us on obscenity."