Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Why ban dance bars?' that was published in Newsband

Why ban dance bars?

The state government is once again pretending to take resort to moral or cultural policing. The Maharashtra government is re-introducing legislation to ban dance bars in Mumbai even after an earlier provision was struck down by the judiciary. This move by the state government has now been stayed by the Supreme Court.

Former Home Minister R. R. Patil had taken it upon himself to preserve the dignity of women dancing in hotels and restaurants in Mumbai to make a living by banning the activity. The Devendra Fadnavis government is also now planning to fight for continuing the ban. The court has rightly advised the government to regulate the dance bars, a source of livelihood for tens of thousands of families, to guard against obscenity and exploitation — instead of prohibiting them.

The previous ban had affected 75,000 families, and thousands of women lost their source of livelihood and took up sex work as an alternative. Such performances in star hotels are acceptable entertainment or amusement. Bans will only violate the right of the women to engage in a profession of their choice, and it is not a reasonable restriction introduced in the interest of the public. The ban robs the vulnerable sections of society of their means of livelihood.

The solution lies in not banning the dance bars but in safeguarding the women working in them from obscenity and exploitation. The livelihood of a large number of families depends on them. The Supreme Court's decision is absolutely logical in contrast to Maharashtra state government.

This decision to ban will prove to be counter-productive and other means will be deviced by the bar-owners as well as the dancers. If the government is bent on banning the dance bars then let it provide an alternative source of living to these people who work in dance bars. The government cannot provide employments to so many youngsters who are jobless. Can it provide alternative employment to these workers of dance bars? If the government does not have the power to provide employment, then it should at least not snatch the employments from people by preventing them to resort to activities that can help them and their family members to survive. You can’t equate activities in dance bars to crimes like theft, smuggling, murdering or looting. It is an altogether different ball game.