Farmer wearing dhoti denied entry into mall in Bengaluru, management apologises

Following a recent incident where a Bengaluru mall apologized for denying entry to a farmer wearing a dhoti, Frido founder and CEO Ganesh Sonawane disclosed another instance where he and Ather Energy’s co-founder Swapnil Jain were refused entry to a restaurant in the city for wearing slippers.

“True story: Swapnil, Ather co-founder, and I once tried to dine at a restaurant in Bengaluru but were turned away because we had slippers on instead of shoes,” Sonawane shared on X. He did not specify the date of the incident.

True story: Swapnil, Ather Cofounder and I had once gone to a restaurant in Bengaluru and denied entry because of wearing slippers instead of shoes 👞 https://t.co/1abpg8NBsh

— Ganesh Sonawane (@ganeshunwired) July 17, 2024

Unlike the farmer’s experience, Sonawane refrained from labeling the incident in Bengaluru as discriminatory. He acknowledged that the restaurant may have had a dress code and chose to dine elsewhere instead.

“We respected their policy and found another place to eat. We didn’t view it as discrimination, just recounted an incident,” he mentioned in another post, admitting he felt embarrassed that day.

The farmer, in his seventies, was recently barred from entering GT Mall in Bengaluru while trying to watch a movie with his son, simply because he was wearing a dhoti. According to reports, security personnel insisted he wear trousers to enter, an incident that occurred on July 16.

In response to the incident going viral, activists from Kannada organizations, all clad in dhotis, staged a protest at the mall. Following the protest, representatives of the mall management publicly apologized to Fakeerappa and honored him. The security guard involved also apologized for the incident, as reported by The Hindu.