A young senior business analyst staying at the posh Essel Towers on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road here has taken to a social networking website in protest against alleged moral policing by the residents' welfare association after he was not allowed to entertain women guests at his flat on two separate occasions last week.
RWA notice
While the female guests were earlier allowed till 10 p.m., the RWA has now put out a notice saying that “where only girls are staying, boy visitors shall not be allowed and where boys are staying, girl visitors shall not be allowed”. Several single men and women staying in the apartments have allegedly objected to it, but the RWA has refused to budge. The men and women are now contemplating legal action against the association.
Raj Gopal (27), a native of Mumbai, in his post on the website, said: “A few days ago, we had a female friend of ours who entered our flat in the evening and prepared to leave by 11 p.m. All of a sudden, the guards rang our bell and... asked our friend to leave the flat ASAP as they are not supposed to stay after 10 p.m. What ensued was a long argument involving many... On Friday, we had a gathering where three of our female friends had come over and left by 12.30 a.m. Next morning, the guards came over saying we should ask our friends to leave. I had to convince them they had already left long ago. The reason? The Essel Towers RWA has issued a circular stating that in a flat having members of a particular gender, no one belonging to the opposite gender can be entertained anytime of the day.”
‘Regressive rules’
Mr. Gopal in his post said the “liberty to lead a peceful life has been snatched from us” and that this was “harassment of the highest order” and could not be taken lightly. Speaking to The Hindu , he said that he had stayed at several apartments across the country but had never come across any such “regressive” rules. Meanwhile, Essel Tower RWA member Rajeev Sinha did not respond to repeated calls and messages.
