The Supreme Court pulls up the Maharashtra government for framing rules that prohibit opening of dance bars within a distance of 1 km from educational Institutions.

"Dance is a profession, if it is obscene then it loses its legal sanctity. Regulatory measures can't be prohibitory," the Supreme Court said and added, that this condition amounts to prohibition and the the rule will be revised.


Hearing a plea on dance bars in Mumbai, the Supreme Court today observed that it is "better to dance than to go to streets for begging or earning livelihood through unacceptable means."

The court also said "We are treating it as a performance of art...mindset cannot be to prohibit."

In 2005, the Maharashtra government had suspended the licences of hundreds of bars and hotels that featured women dancing to Bollywood tunes. But after several appeals over the years against the ban, the Supreme Court ordered the state to issue licences from March 15 on condition that certain rules are adhered to.

When the bars were shut in 2005, about 75,000 women were estimated to be working there and bar owners said the women were earning a legitimate living.