Moral terriers and bar-riers

MUMBAI: Imagine a Mumbai dance bar without the mandatory showers of currency notes floating through the air. Or one where there are barricades between the girls and the patrons.
If the Maharashtra police has its way, this may well be the new, ‘improved’ face of the hundreds of beer-and-dance bars scattered throughout Mumbai. The moral police is getting ready to crack its whip and the target, once again, is the Mumbai bar.
A slew of restrictions is on the anvil which, if implemented, will sanitise the bar scene in the city.First on the list is a dress code for the dancers, since the present bindaas apparel sported by the girls is considered obscene.
The police is also toying with the idea of asking bar owners to erect barricades to prevent contact between dancer and customer. They may also insist that a minimum distance between the dance floor and the sofas occupied by patrons be maintained. Finally, customers will not be allowed to shower currency notes on the dancers.
“At this rate, our bars will become as exciting as the Asiatic Library,’’ commented Shekhar Shetty, a bar owner, wryly. The state home department has appointed a nine-member committee headed by principal secretary Satish Tripathi to examine the new bar code. Its brief is to recommend changes in the rules which govern dancing in bars.
The government notification says that the committee, which includes policemen, was constituted to contain the practice of “obscene’’ dancing in bars which was “corrupting’’ society.
Bars are already reeling from the other morality drive of liquor permits which the police started enforcing from April 1.