Click to play videoMumbai: The Maharashtra government banned dance bars two years ago, and claims the flesh trade flourishing at these joints has been finished off. Wrong.
Dance bars in Mumbai continue to double up as pick-up joints and the flesh trade flourishes right under police protection, a CNN-IBN investigation has found. Undercover CNN-IBN journalists visited bars that the police had recently raided and found the places were still a front for flesh trade.
At the LP bar in Andheri, girls sat in a corner, policemen waited outside and a bouncer called Ram Singh was a pimp. He offered to supply “bahar ki ladki” (foreign girls) and asked the reporters to wait outside in their car.
Outside the bar another man offered to “supply” women. “It will cost you Rs 8,000 for a girl. For Rs 1,500 I will arrange a flat for you in Bandra for 3-4 hours," said Pravin Singh.
The next stop in CNN-IBN’s investigation was the Samudra bar in Chembur. At 1.30 am the bar is packed with women and it’s clear that many of them are not out for dinner. This bar too is a front for prostitution, and being located near the Chembur police station doesn’t harm its business.
The friendly doorman warns us that the police will be inspecting the bar tonight but asks us not be worry. "I will show you 10 girls, pick any," he says.
Rakesh Marya, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, promised to conduct an investigation on CNN-IBN’s report. “These bars have licences but we'll check if they are violating any deadline or if any offences are being committed,” he said.
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