Women working in dance bars, night clubs, massage parlors and spa centers claim that police personnel and operators themselves are their worst nightmare. These businesses collectively employ over 100,000 female workers in cities and towns across the country. 

 

As Jaya (name changed) of Gorkha District had no one to turn to after the devastating earthquake, she plunged into Kathmandu's sleazy entertainment business as a bar dancer six months ago. But she faces myriad threats almost every day, from denial of payments to demand for coercive sex, from the police as well as her employer.

 

“I chose to work as a bar dancer after I was promised a salary of Rs 10,000 per month. But I have had to live under a constant fear of insults, misbehaviours and the uncertainty of payments,” Gurung lamented about her ordeal in Kathmandu on Friday.  

 

Gurung says every time she asks the dance bar operator for salary, he either forces her to sleep with him or other customers. She said that police frequent the dance bars in the name of inspections, threaten them of arrests, only to demand sexual favors for letting them off the hook, she added.

 

A cabin restaurant worker Bina (name changed) from Myagdi district also described a pathetic working conditions. “We are not only treated harshly but also frequently humiliated,” Rai said. "I am not educated to work in a big office and my husband's income isn't sufficient to meet our daily needs or pay for the education of our daughter."  

 

Most women engaged in the dance bars and massage parlours are aware that prostitution is an illegal profession. “We are trapped in a contradictory situation. On the one hand, the government has permitted entertainment and massage services as legal businesses, on the other hand, the society and police treat us as prostitutes,” said a massage worker Sabnam (name changed). 

 

Sabnam, a mother of a baby girl, said she has been arrested several times by the police, who then demand sex as a bribe for releasing her. “Either don't allow massage parlours and spa centers to operate, or let us work fairly. We should also be treated with humanity,” she appealed. 

 

Most of the female workers said that they are ready to quit the sleazy entertainment business if they are provided a more dignified way of earning a livelihood. 

 

"Why can't the government authorities monitor the entertainment business and regulate it to protect our dignity," another massage worker, Radha, said. "I have hundreds of bitter experiences in my 18-year career in this sector."

 

Metropolitan Police Commissioner AIG Pratap Singh Thapa said those who mistreat women working in dance bars or massage parlours could face punishment if a complaint is filed against them. 

 

“I can't fully dismiss the allegations leveled against the police, but if the victims come forward with complaints, we will definitely take action against the guilty,” AIG said. 

 

Many police personnel said Nepal has no dearth of necessary laws to curb the ill-treatment of women in the entertainment business, but the social 

environment does not support their implementation. A joint effort from people representing all walks of life can resolve the issues plauging the sector and let the workers lead a dignified life, SSP Sarbendra Khanal, chief of Metropolitan Police Crime Division, said. 

 

"If we receive complaints about misbehavior, we will take action then and there," SSP Khanal said, adding that the workers deserve to be treated with dignity. The police officers from different circle offices in Baneshwar, Lainchaur, Balaju, Kamal Pokhari, Gaushala, among others, said that they sometime receive reports of harassment from such workers.

 

The experts and activists argue that the government bodies are not well prepared for effective monitoring and regulation of the sector. 

 

Chairperson of Raksha Nepal, Menuka Thapa, blamed the government for negligence in regulating the entertainment businesses. "If 30 female workers are arrested on the charge of prostitution, only three males, who solicit their services, get arrested," she said. "It shines a spotlight on the discriminatory policing by our law enforcement agencies."