After a long gap of seven years, dance bars are set to make a return in Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra, as the Supreme Court upheld a Bombay High Court verdict quashing the government’s ban on them. However, they need to take a fresh licence.

The Maharashtra Government had amended the Bombay Police Act in 2005 to seek a ban on the dance bars, saying prostitution rackets were being run under the garb of dance bars, which used to host indecent and vulgar performances.

According to the Maharashtra Government, there were only 345 licenced dance bars in Maharashtra, while 2500 unlicenced bars were doing business in the state. The High Court had refused to buy the argument and and struck down the Bombay Police (Amendment) Act, 2005.

Various organisations had batted for dance bars, saying over 70,000 women lost their jobs and some of them committed suicide due to unemployment and financial crisis.