Incident captured on CCTV | a Delhi restaurant was roasted over a ‘Saree’ video.
Anita Choudhary, who went public with her allegations, allegedly assaulted a staff member as seen on CCTV video, and another employee inappropriately made a dress code comment to “tackle” the situation, according to the Aquila restaurant in Delhi.
A video showing a Delhi restaurant seemingly refusing admittance to a woman wearing a saree because the outfit did not comply with their dress code is a gross exaggeration of events, according to the restaurant, which posted its side of the story following a social media outrage.
“Ma’am, we only allow smart casual and saree is not counted as smart casual,” an employee at Delhi’s Aquila restaurant told the person filming in 16-second footage released on Facebook on Monday which sparked outrage.
“A saree is not considered a smart costume in one of Delhi’s restaurants. Aquila is the name of the restaurant. We debated about the saree and offered a lot of justifications, but I was denied entry to the restaurant because of my Indian dress — a saree is not a smart outfit. “I have never been mistreated like this.” “I’m also hurt,” Anita Chaudhary expressed her feelings.
Ms. Choudhary is a creative director at Doordarshan National, according to her Facebook page.
The restaurant received a lot of criticism after her post went viral, with people criticizing it on social media and on food sites like Zomato.
The restaurant, on the other hand, said the event was exaggerated, saying that the organization is committed to “honoring our Indian culture” and “welcoming our visitors in various dress codes from modern to traditional.”
The restaurant clarified its side of the story in an Instagram post on Wednesday, stating the “10-second” film released by Ms. Choudhary was part of a “one-hour” conversation.
“We chose to stay silent till now and have been patiently watching the situation related to the incident that took place at Aquila on September 19 unfold.
The restaurant wrote in its Instagram post -“A guest visited the restaurant and was politely requested to wait at the gate as there was no reservation under her name. However, while we discussed internally where we could seat them, the guest entered the restaurant and began to fight and abuse our staff. What unfolded after was beyond our imagination, with the guest slapping our manager.”
The statement further stated, “To tackle the situation and request the guest to leave, one of our gate managers made a statement on sarees not being a part of our smart casual dress code and our whole team apologizes for the same.”
“Aquila is a homegrown brand and each member of the team stands tall as a proud Indian. Our gate manager’s statement in no way is a representation of the entire team’s view on the dress code.
“Nowhere in our company policy does it say that we will refuse entry to anybody in ethnic wear. While we have all the right to take steps for the violence by the guest against our staff, we have chosen to maintain peace so far but in accordance with our policy of maintaining transparency with our stakeholders we are now issuing this statement,” the restaurant added.