Filmmaker claims he was not allowed enter a Kolkata mall because he was wearing a ‘Dhoti’

A Kolkata based filmmaker has claimed he was denied entry a mall in the city only because he was wearing a Dhoti. Watch video here

By: News Desk |
July 16, 2017 9:10 am

A flimmaker from Kolkata has alleged that he was not allowed to enter a famous mall in the city just because he was wearing a Dhoti. However, the authorities have refuted allegations and have a different story to tell. The Kolkata-based filmmaker Ashish Avikunthak took to Facebook to narrate the incident and said that the mall authorities told him that entry for people wearing Lungi and Dhoti is prohibited in the mall.

“Denying entry into the neo-colonial clubs of Kolkata is nothing new. But today I was denied entry into the Quest Mall because I was wearing dhoti (which I have been wearing for the last 26 years). On resisting and questioning I was told that we have orders because of security reasons to prohibit entry of people in lungi and dhoti,” he said in a Facebook post.

“This is unambiguously a new low for this city. Private clubs have always created hierarchies and distinctions because of clothing. Now public spaces are also threatened and a culture of segregation based on class is been practiced unhindered. I write this with a sense of deep disgust,” he added.

According to a report in PTI, the filmmaker’s friend who was with him when the incident took place said that they were allowed to enter after Ashish argued in English. “Probably after hearing him speak in English, they were assured that he belonged to higher social profile and can be allowed in. We immediately came out in protest,” Ashish’s friend Debaleena Sen told news agency PTI. Sen also started filming the entire episode to which the authorities objected.

Denying allegations, mall authorities told the news agency that no such thing happened and that Ashish was stopped by the security guards at the gate who then went on to take their supervisor’s permission following he was allowed entry. “The total waiting period for the person was 20 seconds and after that, he entered the mall. We have video footage of his entry into the mall,” PTI quoted the mall authorities as saying.

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