Delhi hotel Saree Row: A viral video shared by a woman on Twitter, shows how she was not permitted to enter a restaurant in Delhi as she was wearing a saree. Her outfit was not considered to be “smart casual” by the hotel staffer. The post enraged multiple users. The restaurant has provided clarification with regards to the same.
Multiple users expressed their outrage over the incident on social media as the post went viral.
The hotel posted a CCTV footage of the incident they also claimed that the woman had assaulted the staff member and another staffer chose to erroneously use the dress code comment to “tackle” the situation followed with an apology for the action.
According to NDTV the staffer was sacked and made to apologise to the customer for the “saree” comment.
An Instagram post by the hotel said, “At Aquila, we believe in honouring our Indian community and have always welcomed our guests in all dress codes from modern to traditional.”
The hotel claimed that the video clip being circulated showed only 16-second long version of an incident that went for an hour.
They also mentioned that the manager was slapped by the guest, "What unfolded after was beyond our imagination, with the guest slapping our manager as you can see in the CCTV video footage attached in our post above.”
Journalist Anita Chaudhary shared a clip of how the hotel’s staffer did not allow her to enter inside due to the hotel dress code of “smart casuals” as she was in a saree.
Saree is not allowed in Aquila restaurant as Indian Saree is now not an smart outfit.What is the concrete definition of Smart outfit plz tell me @AmitShah @HardeepSPuri @CPDelhi @NCWIndia
— anita choudhary (@anitachoudhary) September 20, 2021
Please define smart outfit so I will stop wearing saree @PMishra_Journo #lovesaree pic.twitter.com/c9nsXNJOAO
This incident angered Twitter users. On user believed this incident to be a product of “racist colonial mindset!”
Author Shefali Vaidya shared the video captioned, “Who decides sari is not ‘smart wear’? I have worn sarees at the best restaurants in the US, UAE as well in the UK. No-one stopped me. And some Aquila Restaurant dictates a dress code in India and decides saree is not ‘smart enough’? Bizarre.”
This is the lady who was denied entry at Aquila Restaurant, New Delhi for being dressed in a saree as according to the deracinated colonial slave hostess, saree is not ‘smart casual’! Most bizarre thing I heard! https://t.co/Kp9AjmiJb2
— Shefali Vaidya. 🇮🇳 (@ShefVaidya) September 22, 2021
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