In a bizarre incident, an Indian restaurant in Dublin 4 has been ordered to pay a customer €3,000 over the owner’s refusal to serve a man, who was an Indian national.
Mayank Bhatnagar told the Workplace Relations Commission he attended Ravi’s Kitchen in Ballsbridge, South Dublin, on July 10, 2018, with two of his coworkers for lunch.
They were shown to a table and he said when the owner was handing out the menus, he asked if it would take longer as they had limited time for lunch and the owner allegedly without answering his question asked him if he was Indian.
When he confirmed he was, the restaurateur said he doesn’t serve Indians and he had to leave, as per Bhatnagar account. When asked the reason for refusing, the owner began to shout out loud about how his family had suffered.
No representative from Ravi’s Kitchen, on Pembroke Rd, attended the hearing while Bhatnagar was accompanied by two colleagues who were not of Indian origin and they were not refused service by the owner.
Commissioner Marie Flynn stated that she was satisfied “the respondent was properly on notice of the time, date and location of the adjudication hearing”.
She said:
“I am satisfied that he has established that he was treated less favorably than a person who was not Indian would be treated in a comparable situation.
“I find therefore that the complainant has established a prima facie case of discriminatory treatment on the race ground. Once the complainant has established a prima facie case, the burden of proof then shifts to the respondent.”
Ravi Shukla’s Response
In an interview, the owner of the restaurant, Ravi Shukla, said he didn’t attend the WRC hearing because he never received a notification to appear.
Shukla, himself from India, said it is his intention to appeal the ruling “and fight against this each and every step”.
He claimed:
“I refused to serve him because he was unhappy with how long the lunch would take and he wanted a buffet and we didn’t have a buffet. It is a very one sided ruling. I have lots of Indian customers and I have never refused them service because they are from India.”
Mary Flynn stated that due to the non-attendance of the restaurant owner at the adjudication hearing, no contrary case was presented. She concluded that based on the uncontested evidence of Bhatnagar, she found that he was discriminated against on the race ground contrary to the Equal Status Acts.
