The Delhi High Court today quashed the order of the Meghalaya State Commission for Women summoning the Delhi Golf Club secretary over a tribal woman being asked to leave the dining room as her traditional Khasi attire looked like a “maid’s uniform” to staffers.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru also held that the Meghalaya Women’s Commission has no jurisdiction to summon the secretary of the Delhi Golf Club.
“The state women commission’s order summoning the petitioner is quashed,” the bench said.
The high court had on July 13 stayed the state commission’s order summoning the secretary.
The commission had directed the secretary of the club to appear in person before it on July 14.
Challenging the commission’s order, the club, in its plea argued by senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, had said that the commission in Meghalaya did not have jurisdiction to issue such a direction on an incident which had happened outside the state.
The commission acted upon a complaint made by Tailin Lyngdoh, a governess, who accused the club and its members of allowing racial profiling of people, which was tantamount to racial discrimination of tribal people, a punishable offence.
On June 25, staffers of the Delhi Golf Club had asked Lyngdoh, an invited guest, to leave a dining room because her traditional Khasi attire ‘jainsem’ looked like a “maid’s uniform”.
Lyngdoh, along with her employer Nivedita Borthakur Sondhi, had deposed before the commission.
The chairperson of the MSCW said the Prime Minister’s Office and the the National Commission for Women had taken note of the incident, and the National Commission for Schedule Tribes and the National Commission for Human Rights had also been petitioned.
Borthakur had said Lyngdoh was part of the nine other guests at the club but she was singled out because of the ‘jainsem’ she was wearing.
Justice (retired) Mukul Mudgal will head a committee, set up by the club, to look into the matter.
( Source – PTI )
