Cops face suspension if illegal dance bars continue

MUMBAI - Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil Friday warned the city’s deputy commissioners with suspension if they failed to clamp down on dance bars being run on the sly in their respective jurisdictions.

Patil’s announcement came in response to a demand by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) legislator Pravin Darekar who complained that despite a ban since over five years, dance bars continue to operate clandestinely in the city, especially the suburbs.

“If Darekar can provide details, I will suspend the local deputy commissioners by tomorrow (Saturday) evening,” Patil assured the member in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

Patil said if the law enforcers were found to be not taking note of the illegal activities in their jurisdiction, then the police station heads and the superintendents of the respective regions would be directly held responsible.

He also warned that any police officer found drunk on duty was liable to be sacked.

Darekar pointed out that despite a ban on the dance bars, or night clubs, many such bars thrive illegally in the north-west parts of Mumbai.

The bar girls mostly live in Navi Mumbai and around Dahisar and create lot of social problems for the local residents, he said.

In 2005, Patil, during his previous tenure as home minister, had taken the controversial decision to shut down all the dance bars in the state.

At one point, there were around 3,000 such night clubs in Mumbai and Thane region alone, besides a few in other big cities like Pune and Nagpur.