Offence of Section 294 IPC – Obscene acts and songs must be at public place – Dancing Girls wearing short clothes and dancing at Banquet hall of Resort is not public place – Offence is not attracted. FIR quashed.

On 31.5.2023, the crime was registered by Umred Police Station, Nagpur Rural, against the applicants and others for offences under Sections 294 & 34 of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 110, 131A, 33A, 112 & 117 of the Maharashtra Police Act and Section 65€ of the Maharashtra Prohibition Act on the following allegations –

Six women wearing short clothes were dancing indecently, audience were consuming liquor and throwing notes on the dancing girls in the Banquet Hall at a Resort.

FIR was challenged under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on the grounds that none of the ingredients are prima facie constitute the alleged offences.

HELD that the ingredients of section 294 of IPC have not been made on a plain reading of the FIR, the dance was not performed at public place & it was not open for public view, there was no reference that any person or complainant was annoyed while witnessing the dancing girls, the acts could not be termed as obscene under Section 294 of IPC, there is no specific material that the applicants had sold or purchased or in possession of foreign liquor and sections 110 & 112 of the Police Act are not applicable since Banquet Hall was not a public place.   Moreover, section 33A was struck down as ultra vires.

Judgment dated 11.10.2023 of the Bombay High Court in Criminal Application (APL) No.817 of 2023 – Lalit s/o. Nandlal Bais and others Vs. The State of Maharashtra.