Women MLAs demand ban on dance bars

Former minister for women and child development Varsha Gaikwad, along with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Suman Patil on Wednesday demanded introduction of a legislation to ban dance bars across the state.

Raising the issue in the state assembly, Gaikwad said that it was during the previous Congress-NCP government rule that the dance bars were shut down in a single day. She pointed out that late RR Patil, the then home minister, had taken the decision.

She criticised the present government for not pleading the case in Supreme Court effectively, which led to the lifting of the ban on dance bars. Patil, widow of the late home minister, also demanded the ban. Gaikwad, Patil with women MLAs, including Yashomati Thakur, Jyoti Kalani and others, staged demonstrations outside the Vidhan Bhavan.

Addressing the media, Gaikwad said on the one hand, the government was protecting cow, on the other hand, it was allowing women to dance to earn their livelihood.