By J N Raina

The Bombay High Court has restored the ‘dignity’ of sloe-eyed bar girls, who were slighted on Independence day last year, on the mere charge of being ‘lewd’.

The Congress-led Democratic Front Government had imposed a ban on dance bars in Maharashtra, on that ‘auspicious’ day—or should we call it an ‘ill-fated’ day for the bar girls—on the ground of ‘moral turpitude’, ignoring huge concerns and public outcry preceding the ban. The High Court has now blighted Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, the brain behind the entire show, till the final enactment of the law. In a stunning blow to the government, the High Court has struck down the law as being ‘void’ and “not in public interest”.

A division bench of Justice F I Rebello and Justice Roshan Dalvi, which heard a bunch of public interest petitions, submitted by bar girls, bar owners, social activists and NGOs, challenging the government legislation, has ruled that the ban had violated the “fundamental rights” and constitutional right to equality of bar dancers and the bar owners.

Quashing the Bombay Police (Amendment) Act, 2005, the High Court has averred that the government was “restricting dance performances only in dance bars, restaurants and permit rooms, while allowing it freely in hotels, clubs and discotheques. The ban was meaningless and unethical, as it prohibited dance at a certain class of establishments, exempting others.”

The judgment has vindicated the stand taken by scores of media personalities, film stars, and social organisations. Even the governor had observed differently, but Patil the ‘Puritan’ that he seems to be, would not budge from his known stand to slight the bar girls, who are reported to be 75,000 in Mumbai alone.

They were all rendered jobless and irrelevant within hours of the enactment. The governor had even asked for a rethink over the issue, but it was unthinkable for Patil, who was in charge of the entire operation, to restore freedom to the bar girls. Some self-appointed moralists coaxed him in his designs, but ultimately the truth prevailed. He still keeps on wagging his tail. As if the rebuke from the High Court was not enough, he has dared to challenge the judgment in the Supreme Court. But the blame game has started.

The Congress has welcomed the judgment, but it has put the entire blame on its coalition partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), headed by Union Minister Sharad Pawar for the mess. Now they see ‘loopholes’ in the legislation. The deputy chief minister, in charge of Home, is determined to clip the wings of the bar girls and continues to justify his ban decision on the ground that they (bar girls) “fostered crime and accidents”.

He even tabled a statistical data in the ongoing session of the state Assembly, stating that “there was not a single case registered in the hotels that have performance licenses, while in the last five years, before we banned the bars, there were 23,191 registered cases related to dance bars”. What he says is preposterous. He feigns ignorance about the number of rapes committed during broad daylight in the metropolis and elsewhere in the state.

Citizens were overwhelmingly shocked over the rape of a college girl by police constable More in his chowki at the busy Marine Lines. The public was incensed and there have been scores of such eyewitness incidents. It is mind boggling that 10,000 registered rape cases stand pending in different courts in Maharashtra. The same bar girls, who were barred from exhibiting their talent at dance bars—where people, irrespective of caste, creed and religion, go to relax—were star attractions at posh hotels, ‘tamashas’ and discos.

These hotels were within an easy reach of the upper class, bigwigs and mighty people, corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, who could spend lavishly their easy-earned black money and shower it on the damsels. A ban could not be imposed partially under the law. This has been taken note of by the justices; hats off to them.

After all, what is wrong with dance as a profession? The origin of dance is ‘Shiva’. Dancing and singing is part of the ancient culture. It is associated with the Indian civilization. Nataraja, considered the symbol of Lord Shiva, is the ‘King of dancers’. Shiv Tandav dance is part of our religious heritage.

Dancing bar girls should be associated with the tourism development of the country. When bars (sans bar girls) are allowed to operate openly on the roadside in Chennai, Bangalore and elsewhere in the country, of course, with a license, what’s wrong if bar girls are also allowed to earn their livelihood? If dancing can be allowed in five star hotels, why ban them in bars? The criticism that bar girls ‘provide friendly face’ for prostitution is not even worth considering.

May be a small percentage of them get tempted and fall in the net of pimps and women traffickers. But whose fault is this? Police thrives on this sordid business. Had the government been sincere, it should have first banned prostitution and imposed heavy fines on sex workers to create a ‘clean society’, as per the likes of Patil. But the police will not dare to do so.

Brothels are the main source of their ill-gotten money. The number of prostitutes runs into lakhs, as per rough estimates. There are ten thousand male prostitutes in Mumbai alone. But action has to be taken against agents and traffickers to stop international trafficking.