Hotel chain delists property that denied room to Muslim man

Indian hotel aggregator Oyo Rooms has delisted a hotel in Delhi that denied accommodation to a Kashmiri man despite him having valid identification cards. The development came after a video of the man being refused accommodation went viral on social media.

The incident attracted severe criticism from social media users, activists and politicians. Oyo Rooms in a statement, said: "Our rooms and our hearts are open for everyone, always. This is not something that we will compromise on, ever."

"We will definitely check what compelled the hotel to deny check-in. We thank you for bringing this to our notice," it added.

The man could be heard asking the receptionist of Hotel Pleasant Inn, located in northwest Delhi's Jahangirpuri area, why he was being denied a room despite having booked it in advance.

The receptionist could then be heard calling the owner before stating that Delhi Police have asked them to deny accommodation to anyone from Jammu and Kashmir.

The police then took to Twitter to deny making any such requests to hotel owners and warned of legal action if anyone misrepresented the police.

"A purported video is viral on social media wherein a person is being denied hotel reservation due to his J&K ID. Reason for cancellation is being given as direction from police... no such direction has been given... willful misrepresentation can attract penal action," wrote Delhi Police.

Nasir Khuehami, National Spokesperson of Jammu and Kashmir Students' Association, had shared the video on social media and said that the incident was due to the impact of the recently released movie The Kashmir Files.

The film is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s from Jammu and Kashmir. The film critics have called it a propaganda movie which is only narrating one side of the story making Muslims the villain.