BHUBANESWAR: Taking strong exception to the alleged involvement of many bouncers in criminal activities, the twin cities’ commissionerate police has placed some conditions for their appointment.
Commissioner of police Saumendra Priyadarshi on Monday warned the bar owners against hiring musclemen at their will. They have been strictly asked to recruit professional private security personnel only from authorised agencies, registered under the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act (PSARA). He has also made it compulsory for the bar owners to get their police verification done before employing them.
"No bar owner shall appoint any person as a private security guard or bouncer without prior verification of their character and antecedents by the deputy commissioners of police. The bar owners will appoint security guards only from registered agencies," the order read.
The bar owners have also been instructed to inform the police stations in writing about the appointment of security personnel at their establishments. The security personnel cannot use force or infringe upon the fundamental rights of the visitors in bars, the order read.
“We have often noticed that bars deploy bouncers or musclemen, who were booked for committing criminal offences in the past. Such bouncers with criminal records always pose a threat to customers visiting the bars. Their unruly conduct may breach the peace and tranquillity of the area. The restrictions have been imposed to prevent any untoward incident,” Priyadarshi said.
The order will come into force from Tuesday. Most bar and club owners usually hire beefcakes from gyms and engage them as bouncers to throw out unruly drunkards from the bars. This often leads to law and order situations and group clashes in the bars. At least a dozen bouncers were arrested here in the last one year for allegedly assaulting customers.
“We will abide by the police commissioner’s order. Our intention was not to terrorise our customers by engaging bouncers. The bouncers were brought keeping their safety in mind,” S K Rath, a bar manager, said.
