Saturday night at Rock Bottom, in the basement of Hotel Ramee Guestline in Juhu, was supposed to be a hip-hop nite.
Bouncers accused of hitting women guests in late night brawl
MUMBAI: Saturday night at Rock Bottom, in the basement of Hotel Ramee Guestline in Juhu, was supposed to be a hip-hop nite. It turned into a nightmare for some visitors instead.
A group of young people, apparently guests of the DJ, got into a fight with the pub’s bouncers over a minor matter of some tissue paper left lying on a bathroom counter (see box, “A big issue over a little tissue’). This snowballed into a major fight, with bouncer and guests, including women, being beaten up in the melee.
One of women of the injured party of guests claims that when the situation was getting out of control, the manager told the bouncers to “handle her”.
A further complaint of misbehaviour, by the women guests to the Food and beverage manager was to no avail as his answer as “so”. The terrified guests finally left the pub and went to the Juhu police station to file a complaint.
Pradeep Shinde, senior Inspector, Juhu police station told DNA that he was aware of the allegations of the group. “We are enquiring into the matter. If the bouncers have actually hit the girls, it’s a serious matter and we’ll take appropriate action.”
The hotel’s Public Relations Manager, Arvind Raghav, puts forward a slightly different version of the events of the evening, “They were drunk.
“One of the girls put tissue papers in the toilet which was objected to by the lady attendant. Why should the bouncers hit our guests? We are in the hospitality industry, to take care of guests, not physically assault them. Our owner Raj Shetty who own hotels in Dubai and Mumbai is a respectable hotelier.”
He added that a meeting has been called with the bouncers this week to ascertain exactly what happened. Whatever transpires at that meeting, this group of young people are terrified to getting to rock bottom again.
A big issue over a small tissue
Inside story
MUMBAI: Shankar Das had recently moved from Delhi to Mumbai. He was enjoying a night out with his fiancée Rashmi Talwar (names changed). They and a group of friends claimed to have gone to the pub as guests of the DJ. They also claimed to be regulars.
When one of the women went to the ladies’ room, she got into an argument with the attendant. The guest claimed that the attendant objected to her leaving tissue paper on the counter. It led to the attendant pushing her out of the washroom. “Isabel, the attendant, was very rude,” Das said.
A while later, a man from the group was accused by the manager of misbehaving with the staff. The man denied it and went back to his friends. The girl was then called by the manager. When she tried to explain, the manager walked away, telling the bouncers, “Handle her.”
As the bouncers walked towards her she went to the reception and asked for the manager on duty. He was not to be found. Meanwhile, some of her friends, now aware that something was wrong, intervened. “A bouncer grabbed the girl by her arms and pushed her towards the door, screaming ‘get lost’,” said a guest.
The others too were pushed around. A bouncer tried to slap a woman but missed. The girl hit out in self-defence and one of the bouncers got knocked by a bottle. They then started attacking both the men and the women, said an eye-witness. There were at least eight bouncers and other staffers involved in the fight.
The group tried to get out but were caught at the door and the fight continued. Several of the women were now in tears. One of them saw the food and beverage manager, Dhruv, standing at the gate, watching. She reportedly appealed to him to help her friends: “Your people are hitting girls”.
His alleged answer was a shrug and a succinct: “So?”
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