Delhi HC stays Meghalaya women panel order

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Thursday stayed an order of the Meghalaya State Commission for Women summoning the Delhi Golf  Club secretary over the incident of a tribal woman being asked to leave the dining room as her traditional Khasi attire looked like a “maid’s uniform” to the staffers.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru also issued notice to the Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW) and sought its response by September 8, the next date of hearing, on a petition filed by the Delhi Golf Club challenging the commission’s July 3 order. “Prima facie, this court finds merit in the submissions of the counsel for the petitioner (the Delhi Golf Club). Consequently the notice is stayed till further order of this court,” the court said.

The commission had directed the secretary of the club to appear in person before it on July 14. Challenging the order, the club, in its plea argued by senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, said the commission in Meghalaya did not have jurisdiction to issue such 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.