Merely Being Customers In A Bar Where Women Are Dancing Does Not Attract Offense Of Obscenity: Bombay High Court

Mere presence as customers in a bar where women are dancing in an obscene manner, will not attract offences of obscenity or abetting any crime/obscene act, the Bombay High Court held recently.

A division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Shyam Chandak pronounced the ruling while quashing a First Information Report (FIR) against four Ahemdabad-based men, who were booked from a Bar in South Mumbai for allegedly giving money to a waiter to blow the notes on the women, who were dancing there in an obscene manner.

The FIR was registered under charges of obscenity under the IPC and also the relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women (working therein) Act, 2016.

The judges noted that the four men were named as "customers" in the FIR, who were present in the hotel when the women were dancing. The judges noted that the prosecution claimed that these men had given some notes to a waiter to be blown on the women, who were dancing in obscene manner there.

"However, the concerned waiter could not be examined by the Investigating Officer as he had already left. There is no material to show that, when the customers gave the Indian Currency notes to the waiter, the Petitioners were amongst said customers and they only gave currency notes to the waiter with a specific instruction to blow it on the dancing women," the judges pointed out. No other specific overt-act, the judges said, has been attributed to the Petitioners so as to attract the offences punishable under Sections 294 (obscenity), 114 (abetting a crime) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) against them.

"Therefore, mere presence of the Petitioners at the relevant place and time, as 'customers', when the two women were dancing allegedly in obscene manner, is not sufficient to attract the said offence," the bench held.

With these observations, the bench quashed the case registered against the four men on September 18, 2019.

Appearance:

Advocates Laxmi Raman and Nigel Quraishy appeared for the Petitioners.

Addtitional Public Prosecutor Mankunwar Deshmukh represented the State.

Case Title: Nirav Raval vs State of Maharashtra (Criminal WP 1708 of 2024)

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