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Supreme Court reprimands Maharashtra government for regressive and arbitrary law-making with respect to liquor prohibition in dance-bars
In contentious arguments on the appropriateness of prohibiting liquor in dance-bars in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court opined that the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of women (working therein) Act, 2016 was ‘absurd’ and ‘regressive’. The Court also questioned the legislative mandate to install CCTV cameras on the dance floor. The State responded by claiming that the right to prohibit liquor was absolute and that serving and consuming it was not a fundamental right. The government also claimed that dance floors were common spaces like stairways and lobbies. The State government passed the legislation to circumvent a 2014 judgment that ordered dance-bars to be opened and for dance to be classified as a profession.