A 29-year-old crooner at a bar near Science City was allegedly molested when she refused money being showered upon her as a mark of appreciation on the bar floor.
Throwing money on singers in bars is illegal.
Based on the crooner’s complaint, three persons were arrested from the bar in the Pragati Maidan area early on Wednesday.
Performers are allowed to sing live at licensed bars. Crooning licences are issued to performers — male or female — who can sing and at most sway their body to the rhythm of the music during a live performance. Any form of body movement beyond crooning is considered illegal and subject to penalty or prosecution, police said.
“Crooners are paid employees of bars. It is illegal to throw money on them on the floor as it involves indecency,” an officer of the anti-rowdy squad of the Calcutta police said.
The complainant, who is originally from Delhi and currently stays in Baguiati, has alleged that a man outraged her modesty when she refused to accept money that his friends were showering on her.
The woman has mentioned in her complaint that she was traumatised at the gestures made by the men and had to scream for help from the bouncers, who are hired by bar owners to handle untoward situations.
The three accused have been identified as Bishu Singh, 26, of AJC Bose Road, Chandan Sribastav, 33, of Beliaghata Main Road and Biswajit Dey, 28, of Kankurgachhi. Chandan had allegedly tried to throw currency notes on her and his friends had outraged her modesty as she refused.
Senior officers of the Calcutta police said live performances, including singing and crooning, are allowed in bars if the conducted within the purview of law.
Joint commissioner (crime) Murlidhar Sharma said Calcutta police was preparing a detailed advisory on live performances in bars based on the Calcutta High Court guidelines issued by Justice Dipankar Dutta in 2015.
“We are in the process of preparing an advisory based on the guidelines laid down by Justice Dipankar Dutta in a Calcutta High Court ruling in 2015. The advisory will be sent to all bars in the Calcutta police area and the local police stations for monitoring,” Sharma said on Wednesday.
Justice Dutta’s recommendations included mandatory installation of CCTV cameras on the bar floor, stipulated distance between performers and the audience, restrictions on the type of clothes worn by performers and on throwing money on performers, sources said.
Labourer dead
Tapan Mandal, 35, who worked as a labourer, died after a set of iron rods fell on him in the godown of a hardware shop in Birbhum’s Rampurhat on Wednesday.