"We were expecting this for a long time and, therefore, we had already finalised
the legal ground for challenging the order in court," said Manjit Singh Abrol,
spokesperson of the Fight for Rights of Bar Owners Association.
"We will challenge the order in the Bombay High Court as soon as the
notification to this effect is issued for implementation. We expect relief from
the court as it is an issue of livelihood of so many people," Abrol said.
Describing the Government's ban order as highly discriminatory, he added:
"While it allows dance performances in clubs and star hotels, only live shows
in bars have been brought under the ban purview. It's a great injustice to our
industry."
The bill, which may take a month's time for implementation, will now be
presented to the state legislative council for discussion and approval.
The Government had in March announced its decision to shut dance bars across
the state on the grounds that they promoted prostitution and adversely affected
society, especially youth.
The long-awaited decision to shut down the bars, many of which are alleged to
be a front for prostitution, was cleared at a cabinet meeting June 1.
It, however, received a setback when Governor SM Krishna returned the ordinance
back to the government without signing it, saying the assembly should first
debate the issue. While the order will see the closure of nearly 2,000 bars in
the state, dance performances in star hotels and clubs have been exempted.
The passage of the bill without major changes has dashed hopes of a
rehabilitation package for dance bar girls who are reportedly migrating to
their home states and being driven to prostitution.
"This is really a very grave situation. Most of the girls have lost hope of
being rehabilitated by the state government or other agencies," said Varsha
Kale, president of the Indian Bar Girls' Union.
"The situation will become very alarming when all the 75,000 girls working in
the dance bars in the state are thrown out on the street after implementation
of the order in the existing form," she added.
The dance bars, euphemistically called ladies' bars, usually have women
entertaining customers looking for food, liquor and sometimes sex.
In many of these places, dancers don skimpy outfits and mingle with the
customers while dancing to film music.
Indo-Asian News Service
