Bar Girls Ban
Remember the then home minister RR Patil in his moralistic zeal putting a ban on bar girls somewhere in 2005 with one stroke of his pen? The confusing and controversial Prevention of immoral trafficting act(PITA)? When suddenly 75,000 odd girls dancing at bars to earn a living were forced to shut shop and go home? Most of them from poor or lower middle class families that depended on them ? That had no recourse but to resort to the oldest proffession in the world or dance at parties thrown by dodgy guys in their bungalows in Lonalva?
Many of them left the state to find employment, sometimes dancing at political rallies and what is known as the private entertainment industry across the country in UP and Bihar and Punjab. Or they sought employment at massage parlours
The court had ruled against the ban declaring it unconstitutional. Everybody is entitled to earn a living the courts said. People saw a glimmer of hope. But what happened after that? Has the ban been lifted? if not why not?
Apparently the bar girls are categorized in three ways-so while the singers and waitresses were allowed to work the girls who danced were banned. To stop crime and prostitution. Because they made obscene gestures and tempted the men who visited these bars to drink and do what men like to do,whatever that is.
Dancing in bars is a borderline proffesion but then there are so many of them. Offering sexual services to bag a film role or climb up the corporate ladder is viewed differently . But is it really so different? In one it is a means to an end for a life of glory and success and security, in the case of the bar girls it is simply the means to wade through the dark tunnel of of their poverty stricken existence. So why the moral judgement? Because of the economics involved? The hypocrisy of elitism? After all what could these poor bar girls do? Who would support them? They certainly dont have the brains or means to organize themselves or seek legal recourse in any way.
Remember Rakhi Sawant many years ago defying the ban to perform item numbers on stage?I dont remember the details of this case but remember reading about it and thinking ”Way to go girl. You rock” She stated very simply that it was her livelihood and nobody could take it away from her. She has gone on to become one successful and wealthy girl
I agree I dont know much about what goes on at these places, have never visited or even seen a dance bar or met a bar girl (except in the film Chandni bar)but the legislation to ban bar dancers seems to me unjust and hypocritical. Misplaced righteousness.
So i felt happy when i saw an article in todays afternoon newspaper declaring that the dancing bar girls were back dancing at new year functions across the city. I thought they had their livelihood back. But apparently it was hush hush and back door and the cops were unable to stop it. So the ban is staus quo
I would like to ask the following
If prostitution is illegal and a bar dancer is arrested, should the person seeking the favours of the dancer also not be arrested? If the Demand of the service is accepted why is the supply condemned? Shouldnt both sides of the issue be addressed?
Were they banned because the establishment could not get a peice of the pie? Like in most other illegal trades that are allowed to flourish… including the many unlicensed liquor bars that these girls performed at
What is the difference between these girls dancing at bars and the film stars and item girls shaking thier booty on stage?
Atleast on the surface the bar girls seem more decently dressed
hi interesting post.
as far as i know the ban has not been lifted
i remember seeing photos of mallika sherawat a couple of years ago from a new year bash at marriot. she looked almost naked and it was terribly vulgar. later she had to make a statement that she was wearing a flesh coloured body suit under her shiny undergarments.
the bar girls wear mostly ill litted ghagra cholies a much more decent attire
Bipasha basu who shot to fame as a bar dancer in Omkara gets some crores to perform at a five star hotel and it makes national headlines. it is seen as a coup, a great acheivement. While the girls she is representing are jobless and have to live in shame.
probaly the same politicians who had banned bar dancers would have been at the five star venue that night , drinking and throwing money on stage ,had it not been cancelled due to the terror attacks.
It is a pity -something needs to be done for our country. mainly in our political structure.
make it compulsary for politicians to have some kind of educational qualification and background before they can freely pass laws in their own self interest and ruin the lives of others
“Dancing in bars is a borderline proffesion but then there are so many of them. Offering sexual services to bag a film role or climb up the corporate ladder is viewed differently . But is it really so different? In one it is a means to an end for a life of glory and success and security, in the case of the bar girls it is simply the means to wade through the dark tunnel of of their poverty stricken existence. So why the moral judgement?”
Bingo Suchitra. Keep it up
Instead of putting a ban on these bar girls, the govt should pass a legislation that men should visit these places accompanied by their wives, with a proof to their marriage.Let me see how many men dare to do that. .In the eye of law both, men and women are equal.Those days are gone when a lady of the house used to cook tasty food and the husband used to take it to his concubine’s house.If such things are expected from women of today,even in rural areas,men have to bear the consequences.Women of our country have woken up thanks to the Western influence.
Alli Rani
what you are suggesting is absolutely fantastik.
if these guys want a moral society why not start with the men?
All men visiting dance bars and soliciting the use of dancers for sex should compulsarily be accomapnied by a woman/wife
if they are visiting it alone they should be asked to give proof of their single or unmarried status
so that our society remains decent
like suchitra rightly said -why is the supply of sexual services a crime and not the disgusting demand.
its a question of paapi pet ka savaal for most of these girls, who have no education training and who live in very poor conditions with large families to feed
if we want to clean up the society, lets start with the men please.
its not enough to pass laws to look good, and then call these dancers to your private functions
Alli Rani, i dont think it is very different for women in different parts of the world. Exotic dancing is commonplace in the west and there are many women there also who are doing it because they have children to look after etc. infact pole dancing, topless bars etc are the norm
only the laws in the western countries give an individual freedom of choice unlike the laws and bans here that the unpad politicians impose
women have woken up in india thanks to the western influence that is true and are not putting up with such nonsense. But where is it leading?
It is the men who need to wake up. On the one hand they cry hoarse about the sanctity of family life and everybody wants the wife to be a virgin. But what do they do? How do you stop them from thinking and behaving the way they do especially because they get away with it so easily
It is amazing that so many Prophets, Gurus, Rulers and Governments through the history of mankind have tried to stop prostitution and it is still alive and kicking… and stronger. Basically, the normal human instincts need outlet and that is what these “workers” provide and make money for that. Male sexuality has been outspoken, female sexuality has not been. If I was a female, I would have argued for dancing bars with men dancing as well. Heck, if everyone wants to have fun, why should the wife be behind the curve? And why have these artificial barriers anyways?
The politician who put a ban on girls dancing in bars is the same one who said in big cities terror attacks are bound to happen!!!
need one say more
Hi desh
I dont think most women would want to see men dance
Well I guess the difference is that in a movie, what the rest of the world sees is an *image* on a white screen projected through a play of lights where as in a bar dancing, its real! Now there are people who aregue that what you see as *real* is not real either, being just a play of lights too! But lets not get there
he he…
Hey Suchitra I remember having the same argument with my college pal. She was moralising and talking about the cheap flesh trade & how they spoil marriages. I was like , “hey what about the men who go there, they go of their choice no one ’s forcing them.” They choose that outlet for whatever reasons. Should they not be questioned. Once many years later when my wife and I alongwith another couple walked into a restaurant on our return from one of the hill stations. We remember quietly walking out of a restaurant because there were female waitresses of sorts at each table dressed in uniform. They were looking embarassed and one or two men at the table were openly touching them. Those ladies were not embarassed because those men were doing that, but feeling embarassed because we happened to walk in. Maybe the thought in their mind was, “What all am I supposed to bear before I can finally go home and sleep, without cheapening myself further?” Paapi pet ka sawaal hain types.
Bernard shaw called marriage ‘legalised prostitution’.These bans are just political gimmicks! Even the ‘banners’ and their cohorts privately enjoy such shows! It was the duty of the government to provide alternative means of livelihood in a “respectable’ way.
But our leaders and babus have neither the moral courage nor the social conscience
to even contemplate that.whatever was going on was patronised by the very buffoons
who were supposed to stop them.Prostitutes are the safety valves of the society said the same cynic! how correct!
koundinya
I miss Enigma! I use to lurrve that place for it was the only place that was like an international club experience in Mumbai! I havent’s stepped in there for a year now! Reason being that you may call me a snob or whatever but the last time i went there i saw so many absolutely vern looking women in bling bling clothes trying to pick up men! I figured out they were the unemployed dance bar kind of girls and I refuse to be in the same place as them! I had atleast not less than 5 offers all evening to buy me a drink from men who assumed that i too must be one of the many available!
I wish the government lets the bars open again and I can have my Enigma back! Most of the clubs in the city have been infested with these bar girls and its best we send them back where they belong!
Yoyo…U forgot J 49 and Hawaiin Shack!
They were respectable places..Now they are cheap bar joints! Even i want my Bombay back!
Lol..Maybe We can have a separate section in all these places! For the “respectable” (Read closet hypocrites!) and for the genuinely unemployed!
Thailand’s economy has only survived because of the one booming industry. And its legalized. A Thai family celebrates when a girl child is born as it means that they have one more earning member in the family.
On the topic of the said industry its not only women who are the target…what about all the rumors about the really hi-flying society women of Delhi and Mumbai + their preferences for other men (especially models and upcoming bollywood stars) while their husbands pretend to look the other way? Is there any grain of truth in that?
this ban is unfair
if anything it has probably increased prostitution. i feel sorry for those poor girls
Tasha! most of these are exaggerated and media mischief.
In this respect there is no high society or low society.
It is common gaiety and mostly glossed over!
Regarding your prostitution phrase – I blogged about it earlier then realised that
Freakonomics, book, has a view on the same – its interesting how economic incentives work
worth a read definitely – also armchair economist
R
Apparently the bar girls are categorized in three ways-so while the singers and waitresses were allowed to work the girls who danced were banned. To stop crime and prostitution. Because they made obscene gestures and tempted the men who visited these bars to drink and do what men like to do,whatever that is.
i would personally like to add here… that i have danced with the bar girls… and have had a ball… a blast… and with tears in my eyes… i say… they loved my acceptance of them… they couldnt believe that they could recieve abandon and love and acceptance… from one of them… i happen to be a woman… they even shared moves with me and vice versa… i am a natural dancer of abandon… men who were forced to take me there have loved me for being who i am… i have held those girls in my arms, some who spoke fluent english from whatever homes, some who have held me like i was the most precious thing they have ever met… i have even invited those children into my home….they are just normal kids…who are making a living… their thoughts their reality…. i have no further judgement or fight for a cause to offer…
These bars where dancing and prostitution are carried on are the handiwork of both men and women,who make a lucrative business for themselves.They enjoy political and police patronage.occassional raids are mere eyewashes.the show goes on bar or no bar! even highly ‘educated’ and ‘respected ‘ persons make sneaky visits!
My name is amar. I read this blog thorougly and I came to know that, most of the people opinions are encouraging this bar dance. But India is a big historical country. we saves our our country tradition. Kiku says in this blog is ” Thai people are celebrates, when girl born in their family. How pathatic this situation. There no way survive these people. Please ban this type of dances in the pubs and local places.
Regards
amar.
If prostitution is illegal and a bar dancer is arrested, should the person seeking the favours of the dancer also not be arrested? If the Demand of the service is accepted why is the supply condemned? Shouldnt both sides of the issue be addressed?
Answer: Well look at the European approach to it, you could be a bar dancer as well as a prostitute if you legally hold a license for prostitution. I would not take any names, but once I happened to take a senior official to one of these bars in Mumbai (though against my personal morale) and had to pay for him to pick a female from there. I thought that these were just daneusies (if i spelled right), but all of them were into prostitution. But when I was in Amsterdam, I heard that they have a similar thing but the ladies had licenses. We have to understand that S trade has now become a common way to make money in colleges, schools and even at girls working at low pay scales. We have red light zones in each state and it is not thoroughly illegal, but the stop should have parallely opened ways for a legal approach to it, which at least would have restricted the ones who were forced into it not to be evicted.
Were they banned because the establishment could not get a peice of the pie? Like in most other illegal trades that are allowed to flourish… including the many unlicensed liquor bars that these girls performed at
Answer: I am sure that they would have been bitten more than what others have been bitten. We all know that each illegal act in India, there is one in the legal side who gets the pie. So I would not totally agree to it, but there were woman activists who were more against it. Let us not always bring the women into the weaker or the stronger section as to men, but I would like to ask is there a male activists group in India who fights for the atrocities which could be done to men. Reading articles of more than 100’s of women being now arrested for false cases out on their husbands or partners, let us come out of the world of in-equality which has made the law so favorable for the women, but what happens to the men. We both in the govt. as well as outside the govt. swing to extremes, but never try to find a mid-approach to it. When would we start thinking on those lines, when will the mentality change and we fight that we have to be called a developed country – Not so true. Development should come from people not from the economy. What happened in Mangalore was a shame not what happened in Mumbai …. comments ?
What is the difference between these girls dancing at bars and the film stars and item girls shaking thier booty on stage?
Answers: Being an actor yourself you are asking, the approach is the same only the physical proximity is a difference. In a movie your behind the stage, but in a bar you are in the stage. The urge or the proximity cannot be deemed to be the same – I would beg to differ.
Atleast on the surface the bar girls seem more decently dressed
Answer: A lady undressed in a movie cannot be compared to a striptease show in front of you and I guess you would have to expect it. It is the same way as a love scene in a movie cannot be compared to a love scene happening in front of you. I don’t seem to see a comparison. I beg to differ again.
My Thoughts :
We both politicians and civilians when we say that we are trying to follow the west, I guess we should understand that it is not possible for us to neither do it or not appropriate to say. We are such a deep rooted society where the openness of one could be a reservedness for the other society.
The say that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, then I guess vulgarity also lies in the eyes of the beholder only. If could go to a beach in California and see a lady half dressed and walk with no ill feelings, why can’t I do the same when I walk in the beaches of Goa or Chennai or Mumbai. Environment… that is the answer. We see in India with obscenity but when abroad as a common thing.
Abdul Kalam wrote, when we step out of Delhi International Airport we bump a cigarette on the road, spit on the road to glory but when we walk out of heathrow we find the first ashtray where we could throw the stub and make sure we swallow what we took out. When we differentiate being the same person in 2 different places. Then we are talking about being in India, living in India and being Indians, with no openness to thoughts .
Change the way we think .. then I guess there is no vulgarity or no such topic as legal or illegal.
Just my 2 cent worth
Amar Says: ‘Ban These Places in Pubs’
Amar you are right, but I guess the lust and the desire for woman would be there in all. How would you stop it ?
Rapes, Molestation, Child Abuse are reasons of what ? Venting out the Sexual desires, but if you get a place where you could vent it out, then don’t you think these things would reduce ?
Rape and molestations have always been there as a part of our or any society. How many times have you heard that a female has raped a man or a lady to satisfy her desires molested a boy or a child ? Hardly any or none maybe ! I could site you one .. but that is not the point.
We could have all we want, but has to be in limits. Let us think out of the box of having the cake and eating a little too. Will try to make the world a better place .. which could happen only by you and me – but by not putting restrictions.
Lets be broader in our approach and make our society a clean place. Stopping some thing does not put an end to it .. and opens the door for illegal ways of doing it. Either it should not have been there from the beginning of this life, but if it has been then there has to be controls in place.
Don’t you get liquor in Ahmadabad ?
Don’t you have private dance sessions at rich peoples houses ?
Don’t you have illegal liquor sales, which kills so many people ?
Don’t you have illegal woman trafficking ?
Don’t we have child labor ?
Don’t we have drug peddlers ?
Leave all the at the air ports smoking is banned, I could tell you that at the Delhi International Air port I have seen a person selling match box for INR 50 for smoking inside the lavatory.
So if you want to stop, stop all .. one would open only the door to the other and that is all I am saying. Let us see how we could make this place a sweeter and place which is secured. Bar girls dancing does not kill you .. but militants coming and shooting innocent people needs to be stopped.
Rape has to be stopped, how many times one calls the police if he sees a crime in India .. i can tell you none .. Other wise we would have so many bravery awards.
No offense .. just my 2 cent worth
I really enjoy reading the posts on this site. Keep it up!
Yes .. very good post..
But you already know that Rakhi Sawant had many millions (in terms of money) to back her up … Poor bar girls… Until there is some vested business interest it will be difficult for them….
Nice feeds. But “The politician who put a ban on girls dancing” does a political act and neither to uproot evils of the society nor establish that dancing isn’t an artful expression.
The same problems are there in Bangkok, Amsterdam or New York. But here it stinks more. One problem is – will the Indian mind get de-sensitised? After 70 years of democracy and who knows when, will citizens assert themselves and look for a deeper value system?
Chances are negative – but there will be more struggle, more opportunism, more deficits, and more debates
Banning of bar girls is unwarranted as this can push them into flesh trade which worse than bar dance profession. There could be gradual shifting of their profession and they could be given some vocation training. Banning outrightly is just political gimmick.
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