Three days after the Mumbai police granted licences to four dance bars under the new guidelines laid down by the State government, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday ordered the suspension of four officers from the concerned police stations for “submitting false reports” about their compliance with the conditions. The State government has also cancelled the four newly issued licences, Mr Fadnavis told The Hindu .
On Friday morning, the official Twitter handle of the Chief Minister’s Office tweeted that three Inspectors and an Assistant Inspector had been suspended for “dereliction of duty and false reporting”.
“For pending Dance Bar licence application, the Mumbai Police Commissioner had sought reports from these officers regarding compliance of conditions sent out by the State government with Supreme Court approval for granting licences to dance bars. These four police officers had submitted false reports. Hence CM has suspended them and ordered Departmental Enquiry against them,” a series of tweets from the handle @CMOMaharashtra said.
The Mumbai police had on March 15 issued licences under the new rules to four dance bars in Mumbai.
The licences were issued after the Supreme Court struck down the police’s conditions making it mandatory to have CCTV cameras inside the establishments, with the feed being broadcast live to the concerned police station.
Several police officers confirmed to The Hindu that the four dance bars that had received licences under the new rules were in the jurisdictions of the same police stations where the now suspended cops were serving: Mulund, Bhandup, Tilak Nagar and Tardeo.
An officer with the Tardeo police said, “After the licence was issued, a committee visited the establishment to confirm whether it was indeed complying with the conditions in the licence. The committee found some lacunae in the No Objection Certificates issued by the Fire Department and the Health Department, and a report was sent to superior officers about the same.”
Deputy Commissioners of Zone III (Tardeo), Zone VI (Tilak Nagar) and Zone VII (Mulund and Bhandup) said that they had not received the official suspension orders as yet, and that the licensing part was the purview of the DCP (HQ-I), Mumbai.
The CMO issued a statement on Friday evening, stating that the four policemen had “knowingly” submitted false reports.
When contacted, Mr Fadnavis confirmed to The Hindu that the four recently issued licences had been recalled and would be withheld.
DCP (HQ-I) Pradip Sawant, as well as Mumbai Police Commissioner DD Padsalgikar, could not be reached for comment despite several calls.
(With inputs from Alok Deshpande)
The State government has cancelled the four newly issued licences
