Two women from Punjab who had become bouncers at a nightclub here a few months ago, a rarity in the country, have been sacked all of a sudden. They have been charged with indiscipline and dancing in a rival nightclub, but one of them says the real reason is envy of their popularity, Link has published

Amandeep Kaur, 22, who hails from a village in Punjab's Barnala district, 250 km from here, was standing tall among her male counterparts in Score nightclub a month ago. She became the first female bouncer here in June.

Following in her footsteps at the same nightclub was Manpreet Kaur  Johal, 20, from the district of Gurdaspur in Punjab.

The appointments attracted media attention in India and abroad. The two bouncers reportedly started getting job offers from around the world.

Johal told reporters she did not know why she had been sacked. "I do not know the actual reasons of expelling us from the job. It was all due to some serious misunderstanding between the Score authorities and us.

"I owe all my success and limelight to Score, as whatever I am today is because of this nightclub. It is really ruthless on the authorities' part, the manner in which they have unceremoniously thrown us without citing any appropriate reason.

"It all happened a month back but at that time, they had suspended me for just one month and I was hopeful to join the job after this period. However, everything is over now and Score's doors are permanently closed to me."

Johal said: "Actually, the authorities were not happy with us as we were giving interviews to media and trying to clear the misunderstanding through it. Besides, there were some male colleagues jealous of our publicity and fame that we gained in a short span of two-three months. All these things collectively cost us our jobs."

"Both the girls were disobedient and quite unprofessional in their approach towards the job right from day one. Despite repeated warnings they were not ready to amend their wayward behaviour," Anupama Bhardwaj, managing director of Score, said.

"They were caught dancing in some other nightclub during their duty hours that is strictly prohibited for our employees. Earlier also they had been caught in other clubs during their duty hours. That prompted us to immediately terminate their services as they were setting a bad example to other employees," said Bhardwaj.

"Apart from all this, many times they were caught red-handed while indulging in unruly activities with guests coming to the club. Now we have made it a point to never recruit a female bouncer again."

Bhardwaj added: "Both the girls, especially Amandeep, were irregular and seldom came for the job. Anyone can check that from our attendance register. They were always busy in giving interviews and getting their photographs clicked for newspapers and magazines."

Johal refuted the allegations against her, saying: "I kept a very clean record while working there. I was very regular and dedicated towards my job and nobody had given me any warning before.

"We had gone to some other nightclub to teach a lesson to some rowdy boys who were harassing our friend for a long time. To give an impression that we are also a part of the guests we started dancing there and one of the Score employees recognised us. That led to all the misunderstanding.