SC to hear Mumbai dance bar case today

The Supreme Court will on Wednesday hear the Mumbai dance bar">Mumbai dance bar case, where, the owners have challenged the stringent norms regulating the bars.

During the last hearing on January 19, Justice Rohinton Nariman, one of the judges in the Supreme Court bench recused himself from the Mumbai Dance Bar case as he had appeared in the earlier round of litigation on behalf of Maharashtra.

The Maharashtra government has justified the need for these restrictions to ensure the safety and dignity of women, working in these establishments.

The apex court had earlier, on September 21, 2017, ruled that three dance bars in Maharashtra, with proper CCTVs, can continue operating.

Dance bar owners have objected to the restriction of maintaining a kilometer distance from any religious or educational structure, claiming it was not possible in big cities.

They claimed that another curb of shutting down the bars before 11.30 pm is discriminatory, when the Central Government was promoting round-the-clock business by commercial establishments.

The apex court had in May last year directed the Maharashtra Government to grant licenses to eight dance bars within two days and asked them to give an undertaking that they would not engage employees with criminal antecedents near the dance area.

The Dance Bar Regulation Bill, which was unanimously passed by the Assembly on April 13, 2017, among other things, prohibits serving liquor in performance areas and mandates that the premises must shut by 11.30 pm.

It also imposes heavy penalties on dance bar owners and customers for not following these rules.

--ANI

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