Dark shadow on Guwahati nightlife

GUWAHATI: The molestation of a young girl in the city on Monday on her way back home from a bar has raised a question mark over the safety of nightlife in the city.
Several pubs and bars in the city are frequented by young people, including college and school students, but lack of adequate security on the city streets has led to incidents like that of Monday night, when a group of youths molested a girl in the Christianbasti area here.The incident has taken the city and, in fact, the entire country by shock and raised concern about the lack of security for women in the city, especially post dusk.
Senior superintendent of police Apurba Jiban Baruah said the victim was around 20 years of age. The young girl, who was molested at Christianbasti on G S Road, at around 10pm on Monday, cried for help but there was no police patrol at that particular place despite the fact that G S Road is one of the busiest roads in the city.
Some passersby who witnessed the incident called up the police and tried to save the girl from the youths' clutches.
The incident has shaken up the police and the district administration, but the security of women in the only metropolis of the northeast remains a cause of concern.
The Kamrup (metro) district administration and the state excise department directed bar owners on Friday to ensure order on their properties.
"Today (Friday), we have called an urgent meeting with bar owners. It was very unfortunate that a young girl was targeted on a city road. The administration has given a strict warning to bar owners to maintain peace and order in their campus or be ready to face the music," Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner Ashutosh Agnihotri told TOI.
He said that bars functioning after the permissible time limit will not be spared and the district administration has recently served a notice to a bar in Ganeshguri area of the city that was found open after 10pm.
The state excise department has given permission to 127 hotels, bars and restaurants in the city to serve liquors. But after Monday's incident, the department will now ask bar owners to take liability for any kind of unruly situation in and around their establishments.
"We are very concerned about the laxity shown by bars owners. They will be asked to serve liquor only till a limit. It will be mandatory for bar owners to check the identity proof of the age of their guests," said Amarendra Nath, deputy superintendent of excise, Kamrup (metro).
The incident has marred the spirit of partygoers in the city. The residents of Guwahati started enjoying nightlife in pubs and bars only over the last few years, with insurgency in the state being reduced significantly. "The recent attack on a young girl by a mob of men has revealed that all is not well for party revelers here," said Chandrima Bhuyan, a college girl from the city.
"Though we have to down our shutters at 10 pm, we have to continue serving customers even after the permissible time as we cannot ask customers to leave the bar," said Kishore Das, who works in a bar on G S Road.
Though the government has permits bars to remain open only till 10 pm, most of the pubs and nightclubs here operate till 11-12pm at night because of growing customers' demand.