Fed up with police action on claims of obscenity, the bar owners in the city want the police to define obscenity. According to them, whenever there is a raid on orchestra-cum-dance bar, police charge dancers for making obscene gestures. Some members of the city association of bar owners are also trying to figure out a solution so that the police can do its duty without disturbing the bar business.
Mumbai police has given dance bar owners 26 pointers they have to follow in order to function. This followed an October 2015 order by the Supreme Court that stayed the 2014 amendment of Maharashtra Police Act banning dance performances in various places including bars in the state.
In the police circular that mentions these restrictions are demands like adequate number of CCTV surveillance at the bars and a special person to monitor the dance shows in the bar. Mumbai Bar association member Bharat Thakur said, “If we are maintaining all these things in our bar, then a fair decision should be taken on constitutes to be obscenity. Our dancers always replicate the dance that has been done in the movie. Despite that the police officers extort money from us on the basis that these gestures are obscene. It is very unfair that they find it alright in movies, but obscene when we do it,” adding, “We have compiled original songs from films to show that the dancers have copied each and every step from films, not adding a single move or action of their own. Now if the original song is censored by the government regulating authority, which didn’t find it vulgar or objectionable, how can police arrest bar dancers for imitating the same Whatever the dancers are doing stays within the four walls of the bar. Also the people who come here are not forced to come but come here of their own free will. We should not be fined on the basis of what some police officers feel.”
Another bar owner, Sunil Shetty, said the government should define the “obscene gestures” category. “We are planning to request government on this issue or will go to court to get justice,” he said.
However, the police is firm in its stand. Enforcement DCP Pravinkumar Patil said, “Whether they are replicating dance from movie or not, if it is obscene we will take action. We take action against every obscene gesture according to law, it’s our job.”
