Shrishti Pandey who first spoke up about the discrimination she experienced at the Raasta pub in Gurgaon (Image Credit: @shrisss_tea, Twitter)
Delhi: Visuals of a differently-abled woman being denied entry to a pub in Gurgaon have sparked online backlash against the pub management, who has since come out and apologised to the woman involved in the incident.
22 year-old Shrishti Pandey was the one who posted the video online, lamenting at the ease with which she was denied entry into the 'Raasta' pub by an employee who said that her presence would "disturb" other customers. In addition to this, the employee repeatedly ignored her group's request for a table, she claimed.
"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. The third time he asked, the staff replied with 'wheelchair andar nahi jaygi'. We thought it was an accessibility issue, but it wasn't. We told him that we'd manage, just book us a table. What he said next left all of us shocked for a while. He told us pointing towards me that, 'andar customers disturb hojaynge', and denied us entry, with so much of ease," her caption accompanying the visuals stated.P
She said that she was "heartbroken" and "disgusted" at the way she was treated and questioned whether simply seeing her in a wheelchair was enough to cause distress to other patrons.
In response, Goumtesh Singh, founder-partner at Raasta-The Caribbean Lounge tweeted, "Let me start by apologising on behalf of the entire team Raasta for any bad experience that you may have had. Please rest assured if any of our members are found in the wrong, appropriate action will be taken against them."
"This is not only highly insensitive and criminal in nature but also a blatant violation of basic human rights. The perpetrators of the crime here must be taken to task and given exemplary punishment so that people think twice before misbehaving with a person with a disability like this. Criminal action should be initiated against them under Sec. 92A of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016," tweeted disability activist Jitendra K Biswal.
The Gurgaon police have also asked for more details in response to Shrishti's post so that further action can be taken.
"Am terribly saddened that this happened to you. We suffer from an absolute lack of grace as a society. Wheelchair accessibility is one thing but refusing to see a human being who is confined to one as an equal and deserving of dignity is quite another," said director Pooja Bhatt in response to the original tweet.