Banned Indian State Shuts Dance Bars

Thousands of dancers in Mumbai put away their chiffon scarves and bejewelled bustiers for the last time yesterday as India's entertainment capital closed the city's dance bars, saying they promoted crime and prostitution.

The state government of Maharashtra had ordered the closure of such bars outside of its capital, Mumbai (formerly Bombay), earlier this month because they were "corrupting" youth. Last night the Congress-led state administration extended the ban to Mumbai.

There are about 1,500 dance bars in the state, with more than half in Mumbai. The industry employs nearly 100,000 women who dance in flimsy outfits to songs from Bollywood movies. Appreciative customers throw money at them. It is an open secret that sex is for sale.

RR Patil, Maharashtra's deputy chief minister, said the licences of bars that continued to employ dancers would be revoked and offenders would face three-year jail terms. "The bars are corrupting the moral fibre of our youth," he said.

The union representing the women hit back by sending a delegation to Delhi to lobby the central government.

Geeta, a dancer from the city of Nashik, about 100 miles north-east of Mumbai, told New Delhi TV that after her husband had walked out on her she had no choice but to work in Mumbai's bars to support her two children.

"No girl likes to dance in these bars," she said. "But what alternative do we have? Now we want to know what the government has thought for us."

The women earn, on average, 2,000 rupees (£25) every night, many times the salary offered by more conventional entertainment industries.

Their supporters say the immediate impact of the shutdown would be the loss of their jobs but, if enforced strictly, there would be a sharp rise in prostitution.