Mumbai bar girls to rally for support in city

Kolkata : A GROUP of seven Mumbai bar dancers, now jobless because of the ban imposed by the Maharashtra Government, is undertaking a tour of several States to mobilise support for their demands. And they have decided to begin their journey in West Bengal.

The seven-member group of bar girls from Mumbai will participate in a rally here tomorrow to protest against the Maharashtra Government’s order. Singers from various bars of the city will join the rally to express their solidarity.

The Kolkata rally is being organised by the Durbar Mahila Samity, an NGO which works for the uplift of prostitutes in West Bengal. The rally will start at College Square at 1 pm and culminate at Rani Rashmoni Road.

The delegation will be led by Varsha Kaul, who leads the union of dance bar girls although she is not a bar girl herself.

In May, the Maharashtra Government imposed a ban on dance bar girls in the State. The girls — numbering about 70,000 — have moved the Supreme Court against the ban.

A representative of the Durbar Mahila Samity explained how the organisation got the bar girls to fight for their cause. ‘‘In May, we went to Maharashtra to extend our support to the hapless girls who eke out a living by dancing in bars. What they are doing is not immoral or against the norms of society. They are doing it just to eke out a living,’’ said Utttam Maity, an office bearer of Durbar.

Apart from moving the Supreme Court, the union of dance bar girls has also sent memoranda to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and National Women’s Commission chairperson Girija Vyas.