Dance bar: Difference between revisions

{{Quote box |quote = "The dance, per se, is not [[pernicious]], but it's the dance in that particular place, where liquor is served and clients are sitting getting boozed. Then the whole atmosphere becomes conducive for men to tease girls, or to book girls for further prostitution."

|source =- Deputy—Deputy Police Commissioner of Mumbai in 2006.<ref name=sfg/> }}

Bar girls dance to [[Bollywood]]<ref name=bbc2006>{{cite news |title=Court strikes down dance bar ban |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4902934.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=12 April 2006 }}</ref> and [[Indipop]] numbers on a colourfully lit dance floor, in the central focus of a dance bar's seating arrangement.<ref name="protocol">{{cite web |url=http://www.dancewithshadows.com/dance_bars_mumbai.asp |title=Dance bars and bar girls of Mumbai |publisher=Dancewithshadows.com |date=16 July 2005 |accessdate=29 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331180018/http://www.dancewithshadows.com/dance_bars_mumbai.asp |archivedate=31 March 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Patrons sit in chairs lined up against the walls of the room. The dancing is minimalist kind and features no pelvic thrusting and bosom heaving seen typical Bollywood dance, nor any belly-dancing or suggestive gyrations.<ref name="expressindia.indianexpress.com">{{cite web|url=http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=45426|title=Mumbai no bar, Morality bar bar - |publisher=Express India|publisher=|accessdate=19 August 2016}}</ref> Most of the time, bar girls reservedly sway to music, in a movement designed for the conservation of energy, until they find a patron whose attention they wish to attract, or are called upon by a patron. They then dance in front of the patron, making fleeting [[eye contact]], pointing, gesturing, or generally making their targeted patron "feel special". No bodily contact between the two is allowed,<ref name = "protocol"/> and the bar dancers often stay within the confines of the dance floor. Male waiters hover over patrons and dancers who get too close to each other, both to oversee transactions between the two as well as ostensibly to prevent sex-for-money deals being made.<ref name=sfg/> Patrons sometimes shower bar girls with currency notes, which generally results in more animated dancing.<ref name="expressindia.indianexpress.com"/>

Income depended on the popularity and status of the bar girl.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The ''[[Hindustan Times]]'' reported that the less popular girls were given 60% of the amount showered on them. It also stated that popular girls received a monthly salary of {{INR}} 100,000-300000–300,000, while the bar owner kept all the money showered on them.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Adamant-on-dance-bar-ban-Maharashtra-govt-to-file-review-petition/Article1-1093638.aspx |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2013-09-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060846/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Adamant-on-dance-bar-ban-Maharashtra-govt-to-file-review-petition/Article1-1093638.aspx |archivedate=21 September 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

Dance bars closed at midnight, but in 2000, the government changed the rule to permit them to stay open until 1:30 am. However, this was changed to 12:30am30 am, following the rape of a minor at Marine Drive, Mumbai in 2005,<ref name="indianexpress.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-price-mumbai-paid-in-8-years-since-the-dance-bar/1142723/0|title=The price Mumbai paid in 8 years since the dance bar - |publisher=Indian Express|publisher=|accessdate=19 August 2016}}</ref> although the rape was committed by a police constable inside a police ''chowki'' (station).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Six-years-on-Marine-Drive-rape-case-hearing-soon/articleshow/7615182.cms|title=Six years on, Marine Drive rape case hearing soon - Times of India|publisher=|accessdate=19 August 2016}}</ref> Once dance bars end by 2 am, the bar owners provide security and safe transport to home the bar dance girls, many of these girls are married with children. Their clients are from all strata of society, including college students, corporate workers and even schoolboys who bribe to get in.<ref name=dance1>Ranabir Samaddar, 2016, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XfUyDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA294&dq=dance+bar&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj__uio4anZAhUDLo8KHT7UAJUQ6AEIOzAE#v=onepage&q=dance%20bar&f=false Ideas and Frameworks of Governing India], Pagep. 294.</ref>

*A bar girl allegedly died during a raid of the Ellora Bar and Restaurant in Borivli, Mumbai by the Social Service (SS) branch of the Mumbai Police, around 10PM10 pm IST on 31 August 2013. Kasturba Marg police registered an accidental death report for investigation. However, the bar management claimed that the police had assaulted a bar employee during the raid, which created panic and the bar girl died due to a heart attack. Bar owner Pravin Agrawal said that, "We have CCTV recording of the entire incident. But the police have taken every thing into their custody and even seized the mobile phones of the bar employees. They are not allowing me inside and I am unable to contact my employees."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-01/mumbai/41662087_1_bar-girl-police-raid-bar-owner | work=The Times Of India | title=Bar girl dies during police raid in Borivli - The Times of India | date=1 September 2013}}</ref>