The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Law & Order

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 09, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Law & Order

The police say dance bars have come up in secluded areas in villages on the outskirts of Bangalore city, writes K.V. Subramanya

Cowsheds turn into dance bars

in Bangalore Rural

FARMHOUSES, COWSHEDS, poultry farms and silkworm-rearing sheds in villages in Bangalore Rural district have turned into dance bars.

This is the offshoot of the crackdown of Bangalore police on live bands joints in the city almost a year ago and the stringent conditions imposed for granting licence for running such joints.

According to the Licensing and Controlling of Places of Public Entertainment Order, 2005, passed by the Bangalore Police Commissioner in December last, obtaining licence from the Commissioner of Police, who is the licensing authority, is mandatory for running live band shows.

The commissioner has set as many as 13 terms and conditions for granting licence. As applicants were unable to fulfil all the terms and conditions, no one has been issued licence so far to run live band shows in the city.

As the said order pertains only to Bangalore city, those who had been running live band joints there have shifted their operation to Bangalore Rural district. According to sources in the police, several live bands joints/dance bars have come up in secluded areas in villages on the outskirts of the city, falling under the limits of the Bangalore Rural district police.

Most such joints are functioning from farmhouses, cowsheds, poultry farms and silkworm-rearing sheds that can accommodate at least 100 people each. Most of the visitors to these places are from the city, the sources said.

In most of these joints, skimpily clad women dance to the recorded music and not to a live band as it used to be in Bangalore, they pointed out.

One such centre, which was raided by the Hoskote police recently, was allegedly being run by a gram panchayat vice-president from a silkworm-rearing shed at Anugondanahalli village.

In the latest instance, the Thalaghatpura police on Wednesday night raided a farmhouse in Tataguni village on Kanakapura Road, where a live band show was on and arrested 14 women and two men.

Superintendent of Police (Bangalore Rural) K. Sreenivasa admitted that live band joints were functioning in villages in his jurisdiction and said they were taking action against such centres.

He said the police had raided live band centres in Thalaghatpura, Sarjapur, Whitefield, Chikkajala and Hoskote police station limits.

According to Mr. Sreenivasa, the police have booked cases against the accused under the Excise Act, the Karnataka Police Act and also under the Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code that says: "Whoever, to the annoyance of others does any obscene act in any public place, or sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment extending up to three months or with fine, or with both."

Recollecting the Bangalore experience, senior police officials fear that live band joints could badly affect the social and economic life in the rural areas.

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