By DPA,
Islamabad : Four dancers arrested for misdemeanour offences in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab had to entertain police for the whole night to secure bail, a news report said Tuesday.
The women were detained late Saturday night when they were performing at a marriage function in Fatehgarh area, the English-language Daily Times newspaper reported. Five drunken men were also taken into custody.
The dancers alleged that officials thrashed them for refusing to dance in the police station.
After succumbing to police’s insistence, they danced for four hours as the officials took turns to watch the performance.
The officials told the exhausted women that dancing would help them win their release, Daily Times said.
All detainees were released on bail Sunday morning.
The newspaper quoted one official as saying that “there was no harm in making professional dancers perform.”
Pakistan’s largely conservative society discourages dancing in public but the practice is fairly common in private functions.