Association of bar girls moves Supreme Court

Source:- indiatimes.com

An association of women dancers, waitresses, singers and other performers working in bars and hotels in the state has moved the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutional validity of a 2016 state law prohibiting dances by women in these establishments.

Though members of this association sniggered at being derogatorily referred to as ‘bar girls’, they, under the banner ‘Bharatiya Bargirls Union’, termed Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dances in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women (working therein) Act, 2016, as arbitrary and violative of their right to earn a livelihood through legitimate means. In its petition filed through advocate Nikhil Nayyar, the association said the law unreasonably interferes with free choice of expression through dramatic performances and the right of women to practise occupation of self-expression through such dramatic performances. The law stigmatized their work, it added.

The state’s concern that dancers promoted obscenity was based on ‘popular’ belief which was divorced from the ground situation and facts, the association said.The 2016 Act would completely prohibit dance performances in bars as the definition of ‘obscene dance’ provided under the law had been deliberately kept vague to allow law enforcing agencies to target women performers and harass them, it said.

The petitioner said dances in bars were often choreographed to imitate performances of mainstream music, especially of Bollywood. “As a matter of fact, such performances are common in weddings and other functions,” it said.

It also questioned the law for prohibiting tipping by customers. “The act of tipping or giving gifts as a token of appreciation has been customary and an integral part of traditional dance culture.