Delhi family alleges religious discrimination at N Mumbai society, Society denies

Delhi-based architect says the society chairman denied renting a flat citing religion; the society chairman denies allegation and claims that the company wanted to do gaming, use the flat as guest house

NAVI MUMBAI: Twitter was abuzz on Thursday after Tehseen Poonawalla, a venture capitalist, tweeted about the experience of his architect friend Seetu Kohli’s 15 year old son, who was not allowed to rent out a flat in a Navi Mumbai based housing society since his manager who signed the agreement on the minor’s behalf was allegedly a Muslim.

The Sea Homes housing society in Seawoods in Navi Mumbai, India, on Thursday, July 13, 2023. (Bachchan Kumar/ HT PHOTO)

On contacting Kohli, she narrated the ordeal that her 15-year-old son Kabir Kohli, CEO of Medal Esports Pvt Ltd, an e-gaming company, had to undergo because of the discrimination of the chairman of a housing society allegedly on the basis of religion.

“My son, owns an e-gaming company that participates in leagues. Just like there is IPL for the cricket, there is Masters league for egaming wherein one of the teams is owned by my son. We are based out of Delhi and to from here, there is a 30 second lag in gaming and hence he decided to rent out a space for his team members in Navi Mumbai to play the league. Since he is a minor, a company manager Khalid Wani has been given the legal authority to sign on his behalf. Hence, the agreement of the flat at Sea Homes in Seawoods, which was rented outl, was signed by Khalid,” she said.

She further said that after the things between the chairman and the company heated up, he had started alleging that he cannot allow the employees of the company to stay there as he is not sure about their business and alleged it to be gambling. “E gaming is a huge industry and in future it will also be included in Olympics and he alleged it to be gambling,” she said.

A heartbroken 15-year-old, who had told his mother that he will not approach the police as the chairman was of his granfather’s age, decided to terminate the agreement with the housing society. The termination of the agreement which the HT accessed, has mentioned the reason of the termination as the religious discrimination by the chairman due to which he denied NOC to the tenants to stay.

Meanwhile Dua, the chairman of the housing society who is also a former Commander from Indian Army, has denied the allegation of religious discrimination. “We do not discriminate anyone in the society on the basis of religion. The agreement of the company was a residential one, but they intended to do gaming from the flat and use the flat as a guest house wherein anyone can come and go anytime. How can we as a society allow that? How would we know if they are gambling from the flat or planning any terrorist activity? It’s the matter of the safety of the society and hence they were not allowed. The owner of the flat was misguided and hence he had allowed,” said Dua.

On asking about the reason of termination of the agreement on the basis of the religious discrimination signed between the owner and the company, Dua said that he is not aware of the agreement and he has nothing to do with that.

“The furniture is still in the flat as the owner has given a time of around four days to shift the same after finding a new place, but getting a new place is going to take time. The agreement at Sea Homes was for a period of one year and the agreement clearly states that it is for the residence purpose of the company’s employees. Around eight boys aged between 18 to 25 years were to stay in the flat. I have always heard of such discrimination in the housing societies, but this is the first time I am facing it personally and it is pathetic to know that anyone can discriminate among human beings in such a way,” Kohli added.