Restaurant Faces Online Customer Wrath After Denying Entry To Disabled Customer
An upscale restaurant in New Delhi, India, has earned the wrath of online activists after it was revealed that it had denied entry to a customer just because he was disabled.
According to India Times, the restaurant called Keya denied entry to a man identified as Nipun Malhotra, who tried to enter the hotel for lunch on March 6. The wheelchair-bound Nipun was physically stopped by the security guards standing outside the restaurant located at the DLF Promenade Mall in a posh Delhi neighborhood, confirmed India Today.
Nipun Malhotra suffers from a rare medical condition known as Arthrogryposis, which inhibits muscle growth in the limbs of a person afflicted by it. He decided to enter the restaurant on the day India was celebrating the festival of colors known as Holi. After he was denied entry into the restaurant, Nipun tweeted about his experience. The rest, as they say, is history.
Was declined entry at Keya Delhi, DLF Promenade because they don’t allow ‘disabled’ inside!
— Nipun Malhotra (@nipunmalhotra) March 6, 2015
Nipun’s tweet was quickly picked up be various people and was retweeted thousands of times. The tweet was noticed by several politicians and celebrities. This was followed by a massive outburst of support for him. Here are some of the tweets that have been posted in support of Nipun.
#ShameonKeya RT @nipunmalhotra Was declined entry at Keya Delhi, DLF Promenade Mall,Vasant kunj because they don’t allow DISABLED inside!
— Tajinder Bagga (@tajinderbagga) March 6, 2015
@nipunmalhotra @sanjayuvacha Will try and take this up in Parliament next week. Insensitivity to disability. Mail me pl connect@derek.in
— Derek O’Brien (@quizderek) March 6, 2015
In the meantime, the decision to deny entry to a disabled person has resulted in an online campaign against Keya. Hashtags like #ShameOnKeya and #BoyCottKeya trended in India. The auto-generated Facebook page of Keya restaurant is now filled with hateful reviews criticizing them for their action against disabled people.
The Delhi government has also issued a notice to Keya, asking for an explanation as to why service was denied to a disabled citizen of India. On its part, Keya has come up with a statement, saying that they do not have a policy of denying entry to paying customers and that they are not against disabled people. They added that Nipun was part of a stag group that had come in an intoxicated state to the restaurant. They also claimed that he was granted entry to the restaurant on previous occasions. The statement, however, came too late and was hardly able to quell the anger among people.
(1/7) @nipunmalhotra #KeyaClarifies Sir, Keya is a disabled friendly restaurant & we never deny entry to anyone for being differently abled
— Keya (@info_keya) March 6, 2015
(3/7) @nipunmalhotra #KeyaClarifies Today being Holi, we were denying stag entries, & you were part of a stag group that was turned away
— Keya (@info_keya) March 6, 2015
The news about a restaurant mistreating a disabled customer comes just a day after the Inquisitr reported about another such incident, where a woman named Brittany Adler was mistreated by the employee of a restaurant, forcing her to write a scathing letter to them. In the past, we also reported about another incident, where a disabled army veteran with a service dog was kicked out of a Subway outlet in New Jersey.
[Image Via Keya Restaurant Twitter]
