New Delhi: A physically-abled woman was allegedly denied entry into a popular Gurgaon restaurant, on Friday, as it would “disturb other customers”, as per the Twitter post of the woman.
The woman named Srishti took to her Twitter handle to narrate the whole incident in a long thread, which has now gone viral online.
Srishti said she had gone out after a very long time with her friend’s family to Raasta in Gurugram on Friday evening. When her friend’s brother went to book a table for them, the restaurant’s front desk ignored him twice and flatly refused the third time. The staff pointed at Srishti’s wheelchair and said, “wheelchair andar nahi jaayegi [the wheelchair can’t go inside].”
At first, they thought that it was an accessibility issue but soon realised what the staff meant. “Andar customers disturb ho jaayenge [the customers inside will get disturbed],” the man at the front desk said, said Srishti adding, “He told us, pointing towards me, that ‘andar customers disturb hojaynge’ [The customers will get disturbed] and denied us entry, with so much ease. This came from the staff of a fancy place,” she wrote.
Srishti added that after a lot of arguing, they were made to sit outside in the cold and eventually asked to leave. “I am heartbroken. Awfully sad. And I feel disgusted,” she quoted further.
I went to my @raastagurgaon with my best friend and her fam last night. This was one of my first outings in so long and I wanted to have fun. Bhaiya (my friend’s elder brother) asked for a table for four. The staff at the desk ignored him twice. 1/n
— Srishti (she/her🏳🌈) (@Srishhhh_tea) February 12, 2022
Meanwhile, Goumtesh Singh, who is a founder Partner at Raasta took to Twitter to post an apology.
“We are deeply regretful of the episode that took place at Raasta Gurgaon on Friday evening. We stand for inclusivity and would never want anyone to feel singled out for any reason,” Goumtesh Singh said in a statement.
“As a part of our efforts, we have already reached out to the aggrieved patron to personally apologise to them. We are also taking steps internally to heighten sensitivity and empathy for our staff to ensure this never happens again,” read the statement.
@Srishhhh_tea pic.twitter.com/eQZxqigPNF
— goumtesh Singh (@goumtesh) February 13, 2022
However, Ms Pandey had called the apology “incomplete”, pointing out that it only came after the tweet went viral and the media played it up. “It doesn’t define what happened,” she said.
“This is something I have been facing for years and this is something my disabled friends have been facing. This is a systematic thing. This is not about one staff and one restaurant. This is not the first time that this happened to me but this is the first time that I spoke about it,” Ms Pandey said.
The restaurant, located in Gurgaon’s DLF Cyberhub, had earlier apologised for the incident and said that they were taking steps internally to “heighten sensitivity and empathy” for their staff.
The Gurgaon police have reached out to Ms Pandey through a Twitter message and asked for her details to look into the case.
