The Mumbai Police on Wednesday cancelled the conditional licence that it had granted to three dance bars in the city because they did not satisfactorily explain why they were not complying with fire safety norms, the Hindustan Times reported.

The Supreme Court had in August 2016 permitted the three dance bars – Aero Punjab and Sai Prasad Classic in Andheri, and Indiana in Tardeo – to operate under the old laws, serve liquor and remain open beyond 1 am without closed-circuit television cameras installed inside. The Mumbai Police had granted them the conditional licences in early 2017.

“They did not respond to repeated show-cause notices to comply with fire safety norms,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Patil was quoted as saying. “They were finally called for a hearing on the subject where they failed to produce the related documents.”

The three bars were among those that had shut down after the Maharashtra government imposed a ban in 2005, putting as many as 75,000 dancers out of work and allegedly pushing them into prostitution.

The state enacted the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women Act in 2016, two years after the Supreme Court ruled that dance bars should be allowed and workers there should be treated as professionals. The Act makes it compulsory for dance bar owners to shut shop by 11.30 pm, besides barring them from operating within one kilometre radius of religious and educational establishments.