A grievance cell to help regulate working conditions in dance bars in Mumbai needs to be put into place, demanded a conglomeration of women’s groups across India, which came together to address issues about the re-opening of dance bars following a recent Supreme Court order.

Attempts to start such a grievance cell had been jointly initiated by the Bar Dancers’ Association, and other women’s organizations after a Bombay high court judgment in 2006. The groups had proposed monitoring bars to ensure that no minors were forced to work. “The grievance cell should be granted legal authority to formulate proper service conditions and look after their implementation,” said a joint statement issued by the women’s groups, including the Labia, Jagori-Delhi, Ebong Alap-Kolkota and Partners for Law and Development, among others.

They plan to forward the demands to the state women and child department.

Bar dancers should be included in the state’s Mathadi Act (for manual labourers) to ensure that they are eligible for minimum wages, have protection against harassment and unfair practices from employers, customers and police as well as social protection in terms of maternity benefits, said the groups. They referred to the sudden closure of bars as “caste-based discrimination” as they provided employment to many communities, which were traditionally dancers.

Sandhya Gokhale of the Forum Against Oppression of Women said many women incurred loans to cope with the situation during the period of the ban.

“Most women had to withdraw their children from school as they could not afford the expenses related to schools. The ban, announcements and pronouncements by the state contributed to the deterioration in their social status,” said Sandhya Gokhale of the Forum Against Oppression of Women.

Activists feel the 75,000-odd dancers, who were unemployed for seven years, need to be compensated for the economic harm, psychological damage, destruction of family welfare and social stigma.