Bombay High Court : The Waiter Bringing Food And Drinks To Dancing Women In Bar Not To Be Booked For Obscenity
Last Updated on September 19, 2024 by Administrator
A server at a bar or restaurant where ladies are dancing indecently cannot be charged with “obscenity” because, according to their job description, they are only carrying out their duties of serving food and beverages. This ruling was made by the Bombay High Court on Thursday.
While dismissing a First Information Report (FIR) against Santosh Rodrigues, a resident of Malad, Mumbai, a division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Dr. Neela Gokhale noted that on April 14, 2016, he was employed as a waiter at the New Park Side Bar and Restaurant. According to the police, the petitioner was among several people arrested during a raid by the Mumbai Police’s Social Service Branch.
More than four ladies (bar girls) were observed dancing in a “obscene” manner, and some patrons were flinging notes at them, pushing them to commit more obscene acts. This led to the filing of a FIR.
Regarding the petitioner, the prosecution noted that each of the individuals named in the case—including the petitioner—was assigned a “specific role” in serving patrons in the restaurant and bar and “facilitating the customers to enjoy the entertainment,” citing both the chargesheet and the formal complaint. This amounted to taking part in the alleged offenses, according to the prosecution, and as a result, the petitioner could face legal action.
The accused must perform any obscene conduct in a public place or sing, recite, or speak any obscene song in or near a public place in order to be found guilty of the offenses listed in section 294 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to the judges.
“No evidence is included in the file to suggest that the petitioner is engaging in any pornographic behavior or singing or speaking in an offensive manner. The bench stated that there is no accusation against the petitioner that he participated in any pornographic acts or encouraged them while working as a server in the aforementioned restaurant.
The Court pointed out that there is just a general claim that the servers were pushing the female artists to dance in an explicit and provocative way.
It has not been determined that the petitioner has engaged in any overt behavior that would be indicative of the word ‘encouraging’ in the outside world. It was discovered that he was not tossing Indian rupee coins at the dancing girls. While it is true that the petitioner in this instance was merely the bar owner’s employee, he was found to be carrying out his job description, which required him to serve customers food and beverages. The bench decided that there is no evidence of an offense against the petitioner in this case.
Importantly, the bench also cited its rulings in Nirav Raval v. State of Maharashtra and the recently decided Mitesh Punmiya v. State of Maharashtra, where it was decided that, respectively, a person’s simple presence in a bar does not constitute an obscenity offense and that a customer’s actions in a bar encouraging women dancers to perform in an obscene manner would not.
The bench dismissed the FIR filed against the petitioner based on these views.
Case Title: Santosh Rodrigues vs State of Maharashtra
Case Citation : Criminal Writ Petition 2476 of 2023
