Why ‘Obscenity’ Case Against Kolhapur Dancers Is Policing Women’s Bodies
Four dancers have been booked and 21 have been virtually banned over accusations of ‘obscenity’. Despite court rulings, obscenity laws continue to police women’s bodies
On September 14, Soniya Gaikwad, 25, was at the office of a district dance association in Kolhapur when she got a call from the Karveer tehsil police station to present herself. “I did not know what to do. At first I thought of not going but I reached there around 5:30 pm,” Soniya told Behanbox over a phone call.
Over the next four hours, she was made to sign some papers, submit photographs and answer questions about her performance the previous night. With over 32,000 followers on Instagram, Soniya is a well-known dancer from Kolhapur and like many other dancers, earns a livelihood by performing at events, especially during the festive season.
On September 13 evening, she and three other dancers had performed at a mandal association in Mharul village, around 17 km from Kolhapur city. By 12:30 am, an FIR was filed against Soniya, the three other dancers and the organisers for displaying “obscene gestures” and for not having the necessary permissions to hold the event.
When asked how they define “obscene”, Police Inspector Kishore Shinde of Karveer Police Station told Behanbox that there were police personnel at the location and they were in possession of a video recording of the performance where this alleged obscenity was “apparent”.
Soniya refutes these allegations. “They have not shown me any video so far despite me asking how they have determined this. I have not even been given the copy of the FIR or informed of the sections that have been filed against me,” she said.
Behanbox accessed the copy of the FIR and found that Soniya is the first accused and the case has been filed under sections 126(2) and 296 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sections 110, 131, 33(r) of Maharashtra Police Act (MPA). The BNS sections are for wrongful restraint and obscene acts and songs in public places while the MPA sections are related to traffic regulation, contravention of rules and behaving indecently in public.
In October 2023, the Bombay High Court had passed a judgement that clearly stated that wearing short skirts, dancing provocatively or making gestures that the police officials consider “obscene” cannot be termed obscene acts under the law.
This is an attempt to criminalise an artist, said Soniya. Obscenity as a crime is a facet of the colonial-era legislations and is till date without any clear legal definition. The BNS mentions the word 12 times but provides no clarity on what it means. The marathi term “ashlil”–meaning obscene or vulgar–has been routinely used to brand performers, especially those belonging to Dalit communities.
In her book, The Vulgarity of Caste, historian Shailaja Paik writes about how the term prevents performers of Tamasha (a popular form of public theatre practised predominantly by Dalits) from translating their economic and cultural successes into the symbolic capital of respectability. This is the same term that is mentioned multiple times in the FIR against Soniya and other dancers and also in the list that the association released.
This is not the first crackdown by the moral police on dancers. In 2005, the Maharashtra Police Act was amended and used to shut down dance bars in Mumbai citing that ‘indecent, obscene and vulgar’ performances are ‘giving rise to exploitation of women’ and ‘depraving public morality (sic)’. What followed was decades-long legal battle which culminated in a Supreme Court order that deemed these laws as unconstitutional and called the provisions “an unreasonable restriction on the right to freedom of profession”.
The dancers in Kolhapur who we interviewed said that beyond the legal challenges, the case has also led to loss of employment, debt and harassment.
Cancelled Shows, Debt and Harassment
“I don’t have a father, my mother is unwell and I am the only earning member in my family,” said Soniya, “And all my shows are now cancelled.” Late August and September is the peak season because of events linked to Hindu festivals such as Janmashtami and Ganesh Chaturthi.
Both festivals are celebrated at a community level where groups of young men in a locality come together to form ‘mitra mandals’ or friend-groups and host events when dancers are hired for 2-3 hour long performances. The just-concluded Ganpati festival season is especially important because there are shows everyday for 10 consecutive days.
“I quote Rs 75,000 per show but I end up getting Rs 45,000,” she said. This money is also used to pay the others in her troupe and meet sundry expenses. “I have never been able to save as much as I hoped for.”
Soniya had a show booked for each day from September 7-19 but after the case was filed, all her shows were cancelled. “People have started asking me to return the advances. But I don’t have the money. I paid all the girls in my group and then had to pawn some gold to clear all the dues.”
In some cases, she has been able to negotiate with the organisers and instead of returning the advance, she went to participate in the aarti–a ritual of worship. But here too, she did not receive any amount beyond the advance, she said.
Soniya has no money to hire a lawyer to deal with the legal challenges. Since the case has been filed, unknown men have been calling her and hurling sexual expletives to harass her. “I don’t know what to do. I told the police about my situation but they did not take back the case,” Soniya said.
Soniya is not alone. After the case was filed, the dancers association put out, what seems like an arbitrary list of 21 young women who have been virtually banned from performing again. Behanbox also spoke to one of the dancers mentioned in this list but she asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. We will refer to her as ‘D’.
“I have been dancing in Kolhapur for over two years now but for no good reason my name has been included in the list. It has impacted my reputation and my income,” said D. “Our names and our photos have been circulated to all divisions of Kolhapur. So all event organisers are categorically refusing us and cancelling our shows.”
On average, D earns Rs 10,000 per show. Because of the cancellations, she has lost over Rs 1.5 lakhs. Like Soniya, D also has a sick parent and is the sole earning member of her family. “Majhya potavar paay aala aahe (they have killed my livelihood),” she said.
Unlike Soniya, D does not take individual shows. She is part of a group that is coordinated by another dancer. Her coordinator has also lost all her shows because of her association with D.
Neither D nor Soniya know how long the crisis will last. Soniya pointed out that they have not been officially banned. D said if they do that, it would mean 2 years of no work.
Open Hair, Hindi Songs: What is ‘Obscene’?
D asked the association why her name was on the list and was given vague answers. “They said I dance with my hair open and that I ‘freak out’, meaning I dance on any song, that is a Hindi song. I don’t understand how any of this is ‘obscene’.”
Cracking down on dancers by branding them ‘obscene’ is not new, especially in Maharashtra. Last year, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and deputy Chief Minister of the state, with a veiled reference to dancer Gautami Patil told the party workers not to organise “vulgar and obscene” performances in the name of lavani.
Lavani is a folk song and dance performance that has been a part of the state’s culture for centuries.
“There is historic evidence of lavani being performed in private [settings] dating back to the 13th century and in public performances since the late 19th century,” said Bhushan Korgaonkar, writer, theatre producer and author of Sangeet Bari, a Marathi book on traditional Tamasha dancers. “It has been a practice in the state, especially in Western Maharashtra and Marathwada regions, for lavani performances to be held in Ganpati processions and even at Muslim and Hindu fairs.”
One of the most popular styles of lavani and one which draws the ire of conservative pockets is Sringari Lavani, which is heavily sensual and provocative. Over time, the performances have changed to incorporate influences from Bollywood and popular film culture. This has meant hairstyles, steps and songs that are a departure from the traditional lavani norm.
“Traditionally women in Maharashtra did not dance with their hair open. But then tradition is never static,” said Bhushan. “Also these changes are not radical because we see them in films all the time. Dancers would naturally want to adopt that.”
The recent reactions to these performances are more about targeting women from marginalised communities, Bhushan added. “The steps that these women are doing are exact replicas of what film stars do. These are acceptable in films, reality shows and high profile events, but they get policed when done in lower-income localities by women from marginalised communities and poor backgrounds. Because they don’t have as much agency, it is easier to attack, ban and threaten them.”
Lavani dancers, Devadasi women and Mumbai’s bar dancers have all faced obscenity charges, writes Nitya Vasudevan in the chapter ‘Public women’ and the ‘obscene’ body: an exploration of abolition debates in India in the 2013 book The Sexual History Of The Global South.
“It is not just a static body or a sexualized performance which has been the target of legal regulatory measures and public debate. It is the mobility of the dancer, her claim to the public domain, her speech, her sexual relations, her economic transactions,” she writes.
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