Govt probe finds Connaught Place restaurant refused to serve street kids

NEW DELHI: The magisterial probe constituted by the Delhi government has concluded that the children were denied food by Shiv Sagar restaurant in Connaught Place

NEW DELHI: The magisterial probe constituted by the Delhi government has concluded that the children were denied food by Shiv Sagar restaurant in Connaught Place despite the fact that they were ‘ready to pay’ for the same.

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Delhi’s deputy chief minister, Manish Sisodia, had ordered a sub-division magisterial probe into the matter.

Sonali Shetty, a resident of Dehradun, had flown to Delhi, with her nine-year-old son to celebrate her husband’s birthday. They had come for a family dinner to Shiv Sagar, at Janpath, when they met a few street children at the traffic signal and decided to invite them to dinner.

Sources said the government will decide on what action would be taken against the restaurant after going through the report.

“From the aforementioned facts and circumstances it is evident that despite the fact that the food was being paid for, the children were denied entry by the restaurant because they were ‘poor and dirty’. This refusal clearly establishes discriminatory behaviour of the restaurant management and staff against the children on socio-economic basis,” the conclusion of the inquiry report said.

“Such an act violates the human rights and fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India, and is against its spirit and essence,” it added.

“We will go through the report and abide by what the government demands of us. We, however, reiterate our version,” said a senior employee of the restaurant.

Following the incident, the restaurant owners had denied the charges saying the woman started abusing the staff after they refused to give free food to the underprivileged children.

“We do not discriminate against anybody, but we do not want anyone to create a scene inside the restaurant. The woman told my staff that we should feed the children for free because they are underprivileged, when we denied she created a scene. She was aggressive and misbehaved with our employee and that is why she was asked to leave,” said Vidur Kanodia, owner of the restaurant, said on Sunday.

“We have CCTV footage which shows that the family and the children were allowed inside. The children, however, started creating ruckus. For the benefit of other customers, as a restaurateur I have the right to deny service to people who cause inconvenience to others,” a senior staff said, on condition of anonymity.

Shetty, however, claims the ‘poor’ children were not allowed to enter the restaurant, and the staff manhandled and abused them. “We just wanted to feed the children as a part of a family celebration, but the restaurant pushed us out because these children were poor. Even after so many years of independence, our mindset hasn’t changed. How will we develop if we continue to judge people on the basis of their socioeconomic background,” said Shetty.