Mumbai: Maintaining that it has always spearheaded community friendly activities and events for its valued patrons while respecting all religions equally, the Oberoi Mall on Tuesday said the Muslim children were stopped from entering the mall for the sake of their own safety.
"We would like to clarify that we only requested that the children, who were small and had come unattended, to be accompanied by adults for their own safety", th Oberoi Mall said in a statement sent to ummid.com.
"We would follow this procedure to ensure the safety of any unattended small children that enter our mall, irrespective of their religion", it said.
"We did not mean disrespect to any community", the statement said.
"In fact, we would like to bring to notice that we were the 'only mall' in Mumbai to initiate Eid celebrations in our premises by organizing a live "Qawwali" for three years in a row. We would like to reiterate that we respect all religions equally", it added.
The statement was issued in response to the allegations made by an activist Yusuf Parmar that Muslim children were forcibly stopped from entering the mall.
"The G4S security guards posted on the entrance were forcibly stopping the Muslim children from entering the mall", he was quoted as saying in a report published by Urdu Times.
He said he enquired with the security guards why he was doing so, but he could not give any satisfactory reply.
He said he lodged the complaint with the mall authorities. In his complaint he also said that if the malls did not want Muslims, they should close the malls during Eid.
Parmar had also sent a copy of the complaint to Additional Police Commissioner Sunil Pawaskar.
"If suitable action is not taken, we will take the matter to higher authorities. If needed, we will also go to the court against the move", he said.
Muslim children barred from entering Mumbai's Oberoi mallYusuf Parmar, Vice President of Gujarat Muslim Sapai Samaj, said he was passing through Goregaon's Oberoi Mall Sunday evening when he saw Muslim children being stopped from entering the mall, according to a report published by local daily Urdu Times..... More
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