DJ Jenny D – one of Mumbai’s very few talented female DJs who was co-incidentally playing as a guest DJ at ORO’s Lounge and Kitchen at Malad when it was raided by the moral police on Saturday – has strongly condemned the police action. DJ Jenny D was among the 71 youngsters rounded up by the police and was fined Rs 1200 for alleged “indecent or dirty dancing” as the cops termed it.
The moral police played spoil sport at DJ Jenny D’s Bollywood Nites at Malad in suburban Mumbai. According to a front page report in the Times of India, the police just barged in and rounded by about 71 youngsters most of whom were only having dinner after their late shifts at the neighbouring Mindspace – the Call Centre and BPO hub of Mumbai.
DJ Jenny D was scheduled to perform and play some of her best Bollywood and Hip Hop re mixes on Sunday night but due to the police raid on Saturday night at the ORO Lounge and Kitchen, the event was called off. The aggrieved youth who call themselves the “Victims of the police action” have started a Facebook page condemning the harsh action at http://www.facebook.com/stop.moral.police. They have appealed to youth from across the country to “Like” this FaceBook page in support of their cause.
Says DJ Jenny D, “Apparently the club’s DJ license had expired. All the other licenses were in place except for the DJ license.” There were some senior executives from the IT industry as well as two senior journalists who did not even have drinks and yet they were fined by the police, she explained.
While the DJ License is a law and order issue between the club and the police I do not wish to comment on it, the police also rounded up some of my friends who had not even had drinks, forget about any “indecent dancing”. There was no loud or vulgar music, there was no indecent behaviour. Maybe one or two couples were holding hands, but that was all. Most of the crowd was Call Centre employees from the neighbouring ‘Mindspace’ area that employs over One Lakh IT and BPO professionals and is the Outsourcing Hub in Mumbai and an international landmark.
The youth had come to have dinner and maybe a drink after their late shift as it was also a Saturday and also payday. “The police should not have been high-handed and trigger-happy with the youth who should have been let off with a warning. Herding them to the police station at 1 am and detaining them till almost 7 am was definitely uncalled for,” she said.
BMC Elections 2012 