Delhi hotel says it allows saree after video goes viral, claims guest slapped manager

The Delhi hotel, however, admitted that one of the staff members indeed told the woman that saree is not allowed in the hotel and apologised for the statement.

After a short clip of a woman getting stopped at the entry of a Delhi restaurant apparently for wearing a saree, the restaurant on Wednesday issued a statement and refuted the allegations. The official handle of the restaurant posted videos of several saree-clad women arriving in the hotel and said that the video which has gone viral is misleading as it only shows 10 seconds of what unfolded in an hour. The restaurant authorities also posted CCTV footage of the woman 'slapping' the manager.

The Delhi hotel which drew flak for apparently not allowing a saree-clad woman shared the CCTV footage of what actually happened. (Instagram)

The incident took place on September 19. On September 20, the woman posted a video on her social media platform where a woman staff of the hotel can be heard saying, "We only allow smart casuals and saree does not come under smart casuals". Tagging women commission, Amit Shah, Hardeep Singh Puri, the video was posted. "Saree is not allowed in Aquila restaurant as Indian saree is now not a smart outfit. What is the concrete definition of a smart outfit? Plz tell me," the woman wrote.

But why the staff said saree was not allowed? The authorities said one of the gate managers said this to tackle the situation. "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 apologies for the same," the authorities said, adding that there is no dress code for the guests.