As the dance bars are sulking after administration’s tough posture, a few of them play smart to tide over the unfavorable period. Camouflaged under their baffling exteriors, these entertain only select customers.     

 

The recent stay by the state’s apex court on Thane CP’s directive to monitor bars in order to stem moral turpitude have ruffled quite a few feathers, while Way back in 2006 the state High Court in its landmark judgment had quashed the government’s decision to ban dance bars. What led to this ruling was the discriminatory nature of the home department’s decree that has allowed the same within the safe confines of five star hotels while singling out their poor cousins – the street lined dance bars.  The message hidden in the ruling was loud and clear – bar one, bar all. Don’t be unfair.

 

However, despite the rulings, the government keeps the bars on a tight leash ever since and allowed these little room to regain lost glory. Many protests greeted the decision; the human rights groups castigated it as ‘barbarian’ and ‘inhuman’. Scores of ‘jobless’ bar girls had fallen into prostitution dragnet. That’s a different story, however.

 

The most noteworthy development is that these bars are still entertaining their clients but with a difference. Now they invite the select few. These select ones are among the richest too.

 

Many such bars dot across Western and Eastern Expressways. A few among them are in Andheri, Malad, Goregaon and other western or central suburbs. But these work under disguise. These no longer operate from a seedy ambiance to avoid being recognized. Now they work from more respectable habitats and up market locales.  In the daytime these works as restaurants, but as the darkness swoops down upon the city, the ‘exclusive’ customers start pouring in. They are usually escorted to separate entrance where they are meted out royal treatments. And this entire business is flourishing right under the very nose of police.

 

If you have money, you can enjoy sex and drugs without any fear of being caught. A cop on condition of anonymity said a few influential politicos have stake in this business and the authorities have to think twice before taking any action