Mumbai: With both the excise and police department refusing to budge from their earlier restrictions, bar girls have decided to take matters into their own hands and commit mass suicide if they cannot get their jobs back.
Over 4,000 bar girls from the city have been jobless for the past month and a 48 member group will be submitting a written petition to the police department and the High Court today, seeking to resolve the matter at the earliest.
Kiran (25) has been working in a dance bar for the last two years. She said, "I am homeless and my savings are exhausted. I am forced to live with friends and relatives, but even they refuse to let me stay on. The only option left is to commit suicide."
Similarly, other girls like her have been supporting their families and with their income stopped, they are facing a terrible crisis. Meena will lead the group to appeal to the Bangalore Police Commissioner. "We are suffering because of someone else's mistake. The cops have to answer why they are being so unfair," she said. She added that many girls are approaching prostitution agents from other states to generate income to sustain their families. "Our actions are being forced by the cops since we have no other option," she said.
Moving court
Shwetha, who has been working in a dance bar for the last two years, said, "They are going against the Supreme Court order and now they will have to give us a letter stating that we cannot work in dance bars. If they do not do that, we will move court."
Meanwhile, the president of the dance bar association is unhappy with this move. When contacted, Sanjay Kochhar said, "We already have an SC order stating that women can be employed. If the bar girls now approach the court, the proceedings will get delayed further."
A senior official from the Excise Department said, "The bar girls have the right to move court and we are ready to follow the court orders. But in the counterpart agreement signed by all the dance bar owners, they agreed to abide by the rules and regulations. They had also agreed to furnish details about women employed by them. Once they submit these details, there will be no restrictions."
Cash offering?
After both the legal and official route failing to get business back on track, the association now has a different plan in mind.
"We have tried the legal and the official route, now we will just have to pay them so that they listen to us. The inter-departmental fights have ruined our business and the lives of these bar girls. We will now approach politicians. It seems like the CM and Home Minister have finished offering their prayers to their deities to save their seats, so they will now be kind enough to listen to our pleas," said Sanjay Kochhar, president, Dance Bar Owners' Association.
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