NEW DELHI: A 55-year-old woman, working for a women’s business organisation, accused the JW Marriott Hotel (Aerocity) staff of holding her hostage after she complained about the poor services and sought more time to settle her bill.
The woman, who works as a legal advisor, claimed that she was held captive for hours and subjected to harassment by the staff. The incident took place last year on December 26; however, an FIR was registered by the police on April 11. According to the FIR, accessed by this newspaper, a disagreement arose between the organisation and the hotel regarding payment for an event that took place on December 26.
“The organisation had reserved 94 rooms and halls in the hotel and paid Rs 55 lakh in advance for the event, which was attended by people from various parts of the country and abroad. After the event concluded on December 31, 2022, the organisers expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of service and food provided by the hotel,” read the FIR written in Hindi.
The complainant woman stated that despite the complaints, the organisation made an additional payment of Rs 25 lakh on December 31, 2022, and informed the hotel that the remaining balance would be paid on January 1, 2023, after reviewing all the bills and adjusting the advance payment.
The woman stated that her organisation had identified some discrepancies in the room tariff and had asked for additional time to review the bills. She alleged that the hotel staff held her and other organisers captive, preventing them from leaving the hotel when they requested time to review the bills.
“A total of 30 rooms were booked till January 1 and we had requested them to allow us to make the remaining payment by January 1, but they held me and some other organisers hostage and didn’t allow us to leave the hotel,” she said.
According to her statement, the woman had been released by the hotel staff only after she contacted the Delhi Police’s helpline number for women in distress, which sent an official to the hotel. She also accused one of the hotel’s chefs of touching her inappropriately during the event.
Delhi Police has begun probing the incident and the FIR was registered under sections 354 (A) (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 341 (wrongful restraint), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.