CHANDIGARH: Chandigarh administration has announced it will review and revise its new policy on regulating nightlife. The decision comes shortly after the government received criticism over its ban on short skirts.
Social media had a field day with the rule, as Twitter and Facebook users lashed out at UT officials. Home Secretary Anurag Aggarwal addressed a press conference saying the administration will amend the policy and delete ambiguous and offensive clauses. “We are considering that if any part of this policy is restrictive in promoting Chandigarh as a tourism destination, we will modify it,” he said. He also sought to clarify that the administration has not set any dress code for city discotheques and it will not indulge in moral policing.
The government in its “Controlling of Places of Public Amusement, 2016”, made all provisions to put a leash in the city's nightlife citing indecency and sedition. The policy came into effect on April 1 and curtailed the bar timings by two hours from 2 am to 12 midnight. The most absurd part of the new law was that it stated permission can be denied by the committee (in reference to running of bars and discotheques) in case of “exhibition or advertisement of scantily dressed women” and “indecency” or, if it is “seditious and likely to excite political discontent”. It did not however, define “scantily dressed women” or “indecency” and also didn't elaborate on sedition.
