#Outrage at MG Road club ban in Gurugram

NEW DELHI: Social media was on Wednesday abuzz with criticism of the move to deny single women entry to clubs in Gurugram’s MG Road with some users calling it archaic while others accusing the establishment of trying to play the guardian.

The Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday that clubs on MG Road were denying entry to women, who were not accompanied by husbands after the police conducted raids in the area on July 3 to check alleged solicitation and immoral trafficking, and club owners decided that the easiest way to avoid a repeat was to not allow any single women into their premises.

Following the police raids, HT had visited five clubs for a spot check on two consecutive nights. The news report gave accounts of how pubs on MG Road were denying access to women who had come alone or with a male friend or partner.

Club owners said they were doing this only to prevent police action as the cops suspected them of harbouring sex workers.

People took to the social media to dissect the decision, saying applying restrictions on women’s mobility was regressive.

“Reading this (the story) feels like reading a memoir of the early 1920s,” wrote Tilak Kamath on Twitter. “Welcome to the guardianship system. You know what’s in store in the future and where this will all end up (sic),” posted @saif_sound on the microblogging site.

Women expressed their shock and said the move “reeked of gender bias”. “Any bloody excuse. Women were always secondary in horrid Haryana,” tweeted Divya Guha, a journalist.

After the crackdown, the clubs at MG Road, known to get crowded mostly around dinner time, allowed women only if they could show that their husband was in tow and both carried a proof of their marriage.

“Face of the our own neo-liberal capitalism. And all the misogyny and heteropatriarchy that the system encourages #scary (sic),” wrote a user with the handle @yomegh.

Calling the move ridiculous, Facebook user, Vinay Saini wrote that it was akin to asking residents not to leave their homes at night in order to avoid thefts.