 | | illustration/ Ramani |
Girls can’t do it? We’ll get eunuchs. That’s what dance bar owners are planning to tell the police.
Bangalore’s night joints, desperate to make a point, have invited hijras from Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi to dance and serve liquor. Some 2,000 hijras are expected to arrive in the city over the week.
A rule says girls cannot dance where liquor is served. Bar owners have found a loophole: the law does not ban dancing by eunuchs.
No more rules
Karnataka Live Band Association, comprising dance bar owners, met in Bangalore yesterday and hit upon this idea.
“We are fed up of the rules. People just dance for entertainment, and no illegal activity takes place here. If they don’t allow girls, we will bring hijras to the dance floor,” said Sanjay Kochhar, president, Karnataka Live Band Association.
Is it demeaning?
Soumya, executive director of Samara, a hijra organisation, is not sure if the bar owners’ symbolic protest insults her community.
What does the law say?
The Karnataka government issued a notification in 2005 to empower the police to keep an eye on dance bars. Before that, the police had no control over dance bars as they were guided by a Supreme Court ruling of 2002.
The new rule said the police could suspend licenses if they found women dancing where liquor is served.
‘Hijras from Delhi are beautiful’
“Personally I would not want to do it, but if it’s only dancing and serving liquor, I don’t think our community would have a problem. But I need to discuss it with others in the organisation before taking a stand on this,” she told MiD DAY.
Three dull years
Dance bar owners say they are tired of hearing a ‘no’ from the government and the police.
“It has been almost three years since we stopped performances. Many dance girls have ended up as sex workers. Bar owners have sold their properties. That is why we have come up with an idea to which neither police nor government can object,” Sanjay told MiD DAY.
Cash down
Bar owners have reportedly booked some hijras from Delhi and Mumbai.
The deal: a dancer gets Rs 100 a night plus food and accommodation.
“The crowds may be thin initially, but we are sure they will get better in a while,”
a member said.
A bar owner said hijras from Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad are “more beautiful” than their counterparts in Bangalore.
“Also, Bangalore hijras will be identified and harassed by the police. That is why we will bring hijras from other cities,” he said.
Band width
The Karnataka Live Band Association is urging police commissioner Neelam Achuta Rao to lift the ban on live bands.
Earlier this month, the high court had directed the police to consider their plea, and said, “It’s only when something is restricted that the craving for it increases.” | 
