MUMBAI: Meeting clients, brainstorming for ad campaigns, a quiet dinner with family, and unwinding over drinks with friends. This is how Meghna Shetty, an advertising professional, describes an average day. Her day may be innocent for most Mumbaikars, but — going by the reasoning employed by the city’s newest gatekeeper of morality, assistant police commissioner Vasant Dhoble — it may be deemed ‘immoral’.

Earlier this month, Dhoble and his hockey-stick-happy Social Service Branch busted Masala Curry in Oshiwara and detained 11 women on suspicion of being involved in prostitution. Of these 11, two women — Anamika Rao and Bindiya Handa — have now moved the Bombay high court, seeking a compensation of Rs 1 crore each for wrongful detention and defamation.

Dhoble justified his actions on June 5 by stating that the “birthday party” at Masala Curry was a front for prostitution. “The men at the party were charged Rs 3,000 for entry, while the women were allowed entry free,” Dhoble reportedly said.

If Dhoble is tempted to link free entry into a restaurant with being a sex worker, he may be surprised to know that even expatriates, bankers and celebrities are offered admission gratis at eateries, nightclubs and pubs on particular nights. More importantly, free entry for women is a tried-and-tested marketing formula in India and around the world.

From Firangi Paani in Bandra and Andheri to Tote on the Turf in Mahalaxmi and Headquarters in Colaba, most nightclubs have assigned nights — usually through the week when footfalls are few — to attract women patrons.

“Mondays and Wednesday are Ladies Nights. On these two days, any woman walking into the restaurant between 6pm and 9.30pm will get up to four complimentary drinks; wine and white spirits are what we serve. In terms of turnout, Mondays are not too special but on Wednesdays both our branches receive as many as 150 to 200 women,” says Vittal Shetty, manager at Firangi Paani. At Tote too, women are served up free drinks till 10pm every Wednesday and entry is free throughout the week.

“To link free entry with prostitution only reflects this cop’s despicable mentality. I’m not sure what to think,” says the owner of a nightclub in Central Mumbai, who requested anonymity.

Media professional Simran Sathe calls Dhoble “reprehensibly chauvinistic”. “My friends and I go to Firangi Paani all the time for the free drinks. Surely the police need to look into more details before they accuse women of prostitution. Free entry and drinks are preposterous criteria,” she says.

India’s most famous bartender Shatbhi Basu adds, “We are constantly struggling against obsolete laws. In Maharashtra, for instance, women can’t work in bars post 9.30pm. I didn’t know of this law for the longest time and continued to work past ‘deadline’. Under current circumstances, Dhoble could well turn up at a bar and charge a woman bartender working beyond the official deadline with prostitution.”

In 2011, the Bombay high court dismissed several petitions filed by the city’s bar and restaurant owners, challenging the 9.30pm deadline for waitresses and women bartenders.

“It’s a vicious cycle: the laws are obsolete, so everyone’s comfortable bribing and breaking them. The law is only making it possible for power-crazy and moralists like Dhoble to function with ease. We’re going backwards,” concludes Basu.