Mumbai : Stepping out of the cover of night over 1000 bar girls today (Aug 20, 2004) staged a demonstration, opposing the DF (Democratic Front) Government's recent circular relating to stringent code for dance bars and frequent police raids and harassment and threatened to go on an indefinite strike unless the matter was immediately resolved.

In an impressive show of solidarity, bar girls owing allegiance to Bargirls Union and supported by the Bar Owners Association and Womanist Party of India, today shouted slogans against the State Government's decision and vociferously voiced their opposition to alleged police harassment.

According to Manjit Singh Sethi, President of the Fight for Bar Owners Association, despite the fact that the bars churned up an annual revenue of Rs 1500 crore to the Government besides providing employment to over 10 lakh persons, there was an effort to "crush the industry".

The frequent raids, he alleged, was aimed at coughing up more bribes by the police and in forcing the bar owners to toe the line. Referring to the circular that forbids the use of indecent clothes, Sethi maintained that the clothes were not indecent and that the bars did not indulge in prostitution, as often alleged by the police.

In a memorandum submitted to Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, he said, following police raids "over 150 girls have been dumped into children's home illegally. There has been no offence registered against these girls who are kept there on the pretext of being minors".