Thirty-nine women and minor girls were rescued and 57 people were detained when the Social Service Branch of the Mumbai Crime Branch raided a bar at Akurli Road in Kandivali around 11 p.m. on Saturday.
Sit-down restaurant
The Social Service Branch team found the women and girls dancing in Nityanand Bar and Restaurant, which is meant to operate as a regular a sit-down bar and restaurant.
According to the police, the 57 people who were detained included the bar manager and cashier, who were subsequently arrested, 12 steward-waiters, 29 customers and others. They have been handed over to Samta Nagar police station.
The 14 girls who are thought to be minors were sent to the juvenile remand home, and the women were let off with a warning.
“We are yet to determine if the 14 girls rescued are minors,” Senior police inspector Anil Mane of the Samta Nagar police station said. He said the police team was in the area, and the raid was conducted as part of routine checking.
Vinay Kumar Rathod, DCP, Zone XII, said the Aadhaar cards of the suspected minors were being checked for their age and background information. “A medical examination will also be conducted,” he said.
Cash, instruments seized
The police also seized music instruments from the bar and ₹49,540 in cash. Cases have been registered against hotel staffers at the Samta Nagar Police Station under Sections 370 (4) (buying or disposing of any person as a slave), 370 (5) (immoral trafficking), 294 (performance of obscene acts and songs), 114 (abettor present when act is committed) and 34 (for having common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
Sections of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurant and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women Act, 2016, and the Maharashtra Police Act have also been applied against the bar management.
