Bihar cattle fair theatres lose licence for vulgar dances

PATNA - Vulgar dances by scantily-clad women named after Bollywood actresses forced the authorities to suspend the licences of theatres at the Sonepur cattle fair in Bihar.

Saran district administration suspended the licences of all the theatres, officials said Wednesday.

Kuldeep Narayan, the district magistrate of Saran, said licences of theatres were suspended after a team led by a magistrate took notice of objectionable dance shows, vulgarity and dancers in semi-nude dresses.

“Licenses of theatres have been suspended as a punishment and it was a warning to them,” he said.

In the past, the court cracked the whip on indecent theatre and dance shows at the fair. Besides, the district administration also intervened to check vulgar dances.

Local social activist Manoj Kumar told IANS that the vulgar dances attracted hundreds of people, especially youth, who are making a beeline to the theatres to watch them.

“It has become an easy business to mint money,” Kumar said.

Most of the dancers have been named after popular Bollywood actresses like Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Bipasha Basu and Deepika Padukone to lure the youths.

The nearly month-long Sonepur cattle fair, spread across 500 acres near the confluence of the Ganga and the Gandak rivers, is being held every year for centuries.

The fair, which begins on the auspicious Kartik Purnima day according to the Hindu almanac, is perhaps the only one of its kind in the entire sub-continent where many birds like parrots and eagles and animals from elephants and buffaloes to horses, sheep and goats are bought and sold.