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Delhi's Tis Hazari Court has recently acquitted seven women accused of obscene dance wearing short clothes at a bar in Pahar Ganj. The court said that wearing short clothes is not a crime. The court has also acquitted the manager of the bar.
It was alleged that accused persons were dancing obscenely at bar which caused annoyance to the persons present at bar. A case was registered at police station Pahar Ganj in 2024. Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Neetu Sharma acquitted seven women and the manager after considering the evidence placed on record. " It is clear that the prosecution has failed to prove that any offence was committed or that the accused were involved in any offence as projected by the prosecution in this case. Accordingly, accused persons are acquitted of offences in the present case," CJM Sharma held in February 4 Judgement. The court said that neither wearing small clothes is a crime nor dancing on songs can be punished irrespective of whether such dance is done in public. It is only when the dance becomes annoying to other than the dancer can be punished. Prosecution had relied on the testimony of Sub Inspector (SI) Dharmender. He claimed that he was on patrolling duty and when he entered the bar, he saw some girls were dancing on obscene songs wearing small clothes The court said, " SI Dharmender nowhere claims that the dance was annoying any other person. In support of its case prosecution examined Dinesh and Dhruv. They however states that they had gone for enjoyment and that they did not know anything about this case, the court noted. Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) for the state cross examined the witness but they denied everything. Prosecution has not been able to point out as to why this witnesses will depose falsely,the court said. The court observed, "It is clear that the police concocted a story but could not find support from public. In such circumstances, even if we accept the claim of SI Dharmender, the same will not establish the ingredient of the offence." Prosecution had claimed firstly that the accused.persons did an obscene act which caused annoyance to the public and secondly that a notification was violated by not installing cctv system. Section 294 IPC punishes for obscene act The court said that the provision says that if a person does any obscene act in public place and it annoys the other, the same will be punished. The court said that In the present case, prosecution has not been able to produce any evidence to show that the notification was ever published or that accused had actual knowledge of the said order promulgated by the ACP concerned. The prosecution has also failed to produce copy of any newspaper etc. wherein such order may have been published. Prosecution also failed to mention the name of the newspaper and date of publication of order in question. It has not even produced any photographs of the said order affixed on any notice board of any of the offices mentioned in the order of the ACP, the court said. The case of the prosecution was that on March 3, 2024, at around 12:30 AM, at Jacks Bar and Live Music, Opposite Imperial Cinema Rajguru Road, in the area of Police station Pahar Ganj, accused persons in furtherance of their common intention did an obscene act i.e. obscene dance at bar which caused annoyance to the public persons present at bar and thereby accused persons committed an offence punishable.under Section 294 IPC. Prosecution had claimed that accused Sandeep Verma being the Manager / care taker of the said bar failed to maintain proper functioning of CCTV camera installed at the said bar which is in violation of order of ACP of 09.02.2024 promulgated under Section 144 of Cr.PC by ACP, Pahar Ganj, Delhi and without following the proper guidelines of license issued by the Government and thereby he committed an offence punishable U/s 188 IPC & 28/112 DP Act. (ANI)
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