'Bengal or Bangladesh, same thing': Noida hotel turns away Bengal family

National National

Posted by AI on 2025-08-13 11:32:39 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-08-14 01:47:25

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In a shocking incident, an OYO Hotel in Noida's Sector 44 refused entry to a family from Kolkata, triggering concerns over discrimination and highlighting the need for sensitization on Indian states and geography.

The incident, which occurred on Sunday, involved the Mistri family from the upscale New Town area of Kolkata who were in Noida for their 14-year-old daughter's participation in a roller skating championship. The girl, Sonali Mistri, who had been training for the tournament in Punjab, was accompanied by her parents and younger sister.

They arrived at the hotel at around midnight, and the father, Anup Mistri, reportedly produced multiple IDs, including his own government ID and his daughter's pan card and Aadhaar card, which all listed their addresses in Kolkata. However, Mistri says that the hotel's night manager, Rajat Gupta, refused to let them check in, insisting that they were from Bangladesh even though they had spoken to him in Bengali to help clarify the confusion.

Gupta's alleged that Mistri's IDs listed his address in Bengal, and that was sufficient grounds to refuse them entry. Mistri alleges that Gupta insisted that they were speaking in Bangla, not Bengali, and that Bengal and Bangladesh were the same.

In an absolute nightmare of a situation, Mistri says that when they produce their passports to confirm their nationality as Indian, Gupta did not apologize but instead called the police to remove the "suspects" from the hotel.

The incident has gone viral on social media, and Rajat Gupta has been suspended from his job at the hotel. But to Mistri and his family, and many others appalled by this incident, that is not enough.

"We have faced the most unimaginable discrimination and humiliation," he says. "The hotel manager should have apologized and compensated us, but instead, he tried to cover up his misdeeds."

As for the roller skating championship, Sonali Mistri got a special invitation from the organizing committee to participate in the next edition of the event. Let's hope that this time, a more welcoming and geographically literate crowd receives her.

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