Bangalore, Jul 1 (DHNS): The City police top brass has taken a decision to rein in Bangalore’s naughty nightlife and is working out the details of imposing a “dress code” on the young women who make a living pirouetting in the sundry bars in the back alleys.

The anti-sleaze campaign is ostensibly aimed at curbing the passions of men who seek pleasure gawking at scantily clad women. The police’s morals are being extended to the dim and grimy bars in the belief that a dress code will stop the corrupting influence of bar grils on the youth and prevent prostitution.

Armed with so-called “complaints”, the police will “soon” make chudidars, saris and shirts and trousers compulsory for bar girls when they take the floors to entertain people who patronise the high-wattage bars. The languid young women will have to abandon attires of their choice and follow the police’s definition of morality.

“We have decided to introduce a dress code for bar girls since we received several objections to the dresses bar girls usually wear. The complainants claimed the bar girls’ employers were trying to promote obscenity, so that their businesses thrived, by making the girls wear dresses that reveal more than they conceal,” Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari told Deccan Herald.

Bidari did not elaborate whether the complainants had personally seen the women dance to loud music in skimpy clothes.

The police have made a concession, though. Bar owners and the women would be free to choose whether they would prefer chudidars or saris or a combination of shirts and trousers. They would also be able to exercise their preference for the colour of the dresses. The two choices will have to be intimated to the police well in advance.

The decision to clothe the bar girls was taken after the police recently raided ‘Dhamal’, a bar-cum-restaurant, in Viveknagar, where they found 47 girls with little clothing on them dancing in what appeared to the raiding cops to be obscene.

The dance bars in the City are a curious hybrid of Bollywood fantasy, item numbers and doleful music. These are not strip joints; the women remain fully, if sometimes a little scantily, clothed, and men are not allowed to touch them. The women dance and the men can only offer cash from their seats in appreciation of their floor performance.

And yet, the police have also decided to restrict the number of girls that bar owners can employ. In accordance with the new morality guidelines, bar owners will be allowed to employ in the ratio of 1:4 (one girl for every four tables).

“It will be mandatory for bar owners having women employees to seek prior police permission. A gazette notification will be issued in this regard after taking permission from the state government. If and when permission is granted, the police will specify the number and the dress code,” Bidari said, adding that bar owners will be responsible for providing parking facilities for patrons’ vehicles.