Bhubaneswar, Nov. 1: City bars, which have employed women to sing and dance to entertain its customers, have come under the scanner of police and excise officials.

The move comes following a scuffle between corporator Amaresh Jena and the owner of a bar on Cuttack Road under Laxmisagar police limits on Friday night.

The corporator, who had gone to the bar along with some local residents, was allegedly manhandled by its owner and employees when he objected to obscene dance performances. "I had gone to the bar to stop obscene dancing there. But the bar owner misbehaved with me and even issued threats," said Jena.

Though several hotels, clubs and bars with valid liquor licence need to obtain permission from the police to host musical nights, a number of bars are allegedly engaging women for dancing and singing in violation of section 25 of the Bihar and Orissa Excise Act. The act debars employment of children or women by licenced vendors.

There are 40 liquor shops of which 27 are bar-cum-restaurants in the city. Besides, 24 city hotels have liquor licence.

Sources said that around a dozen bars in the city, including four on Cuttack Road, engage women for dancing. The police said these bars had been doing this for a few years to attract customers. This, sometimes, exposes women to drunken brawls.

Last year, the excise department had served notices on six bars in the city after a surprise raid revealed that they were employing women for dancing. The department had even found that one of these bars used to engage women for serving liquor to its customers. Though the department had decided to close the bars, the owners moved court. They argued that the move would harm the job prospects of women.

Sources said that though there was no entry fee in the five bars that were found violating the norms, they charged more than others.

"We don't employ women as dancers. We only entertain customers by playing music," said the employee of one of the bars on Cuttack Road.

"Police only give permission for hosting musical nights in bars on the condition that these entertainment programmes do not encourage vulgarity. Whenever we received such complaints, we have taken necessary actions. Besides, the police would also initiate action against the bars for serving liquor beyond permissible time," said police commissioner R.P. Sharma.

Four arrested

Four persons were arrested in Bhubaneswar today for allegedly looting Rs 17 lakh from a private hospital employee at Chandrasekharpur in February last year.

The arrested include an employee of the hospital where the victim, Jaydev Das, was employed. Police have seized a pistol and two rounds of live ammunition and recovered Rs 1.4 lakh in cash from the accused.

The accused have been identified as Sanjay Nayak, 25, Raja Babu Patra, 21, Pintu Digal, 24, and Gagan Kumar Nayak. While Nayak and Patra hail from Ganjam district, Digal is a native of Kandhamal district and Gagan Kumar Nayak is an office assistant employed with the private hospital where the victim worked as an accountant.