Dance bars will lead to exploitation of women, trafficking: Former Mumbai cop Vasant Dhoble

Vasant Dhoble, the face of the police’s offensive against immoral activities during his tenure in the Social Service Branch of the Mumbai police, is not happy with the Supreme Court’s stay on the 2014 amendment to the Maharashtra Police Act banning dance performance in bars. The court’s move paves the way for reopening of dance bars in the city. Dhoble, who retired as assistant commissioner of police, said he feels exploitation of women and human trafficking will increase in the city. [caption id=“attachment_2471756” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Vasant Dhoble. Firstpost/Sachin Gokhale.[/caption] In an interview with Firstpost, he speaks on the court’s ruling, human trafficking, rise in crime and the police mechanism to keep check on immoral activities. Q: What’s your view on the Supreme Court judgment? A: Since the Supreme Court has given the ruling, it must be based on various aspects of the case and might have considered the social aspect as well. So, we have to either abide by it or amend the law without keeping any loopholes. Q: Do you think the dance bar re-opening will lead to rise in crime in the city? A: Yes. When the dance bars start now, the criminals will have a place to sit and hatch conspiracies. There will also be instances wherein the two different groups will fight over the girls in the dance bar. There is a possibility that the exploitation of women and immoral activities will increase in the city. Q: Will it be instrumental in the rise of human trafficking? A: Surely, it will increase. All bar owners will try their best to get young or minor girls to attract youth and other customers. So, the girls in search of job from rural parts of different states or the neighboring countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh will be trafficked. They will be put into immoral activities with or without their will. The cases registered against the bar owners under the PITA clearly show that the bar owners are not only interested in dance bars but in immoral activities also. So, human trafficking is likely to go up. Q: What measures should be taken by the police to keep a check on crime? A: Police don’t have a mechanism to keep round-the-clock watch on these places. They should prepare a proper mechanism to control immoral activities. Each and every bar in the city should be under CCTV. All the rooms and even interface should have CCTVs. It was observed that the local police visiting the bars for inspection were hand-in-glove with the bar owners. CCTVs will ensure that they are not working in tandem with the bar owners. Q: A section of policemen says dance bars would help build a good network of informers. Do you buy this argument? A: No, not at all. Network of informers is not at all connected with dance bars. Those who have any information and want to pass it on to police don’t need bars for that. On the other side, corruption will be rampant in the police force.