Bahrain shuts Indian restaurant that allegedly denied entry to woman wearing veil

Restaurant apologises and says duty manager involved has been suspended

An Indian restaurant in Bahrain was shut down by authorities after it allegedly denied entry to a woman wearing a veil, according to media reports.

A duty manager in the Lantern restaurant in Bahrain’s Adliya area reportedly denied entry to a woman in veil, leading to the establishment posting an apology on social media.

The duty manager has been suspended, according to Gulf News.

The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority has also launched a probe and asked all outlets to avoid any policy that discriminates against people, the Daily Tribune News of Bahrain reported. “We reject all actions that discriminate against people, especially regarding their national identity,” authorities said.

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It added that the step to close the restaurant was taken in accordance with Decree Law Number 15 of 1986, which deals with “tourism-related establishments”.

Meanwhile, the restaurant posted an apology on social media expressing regret for the “mistake”.

“Everyone is welcome to Lanterns as how it has been for more than 35 years that we have been serving all nationalities in the beautiful kingdom of Bahrain. Lanterns is a place for everyone to come enjoy with their families and feel at home. In this instance, a mistake has been made by a manager who is now being suspended as this does not represent who we are,” the restaurant said in a statement on Instagram.

“As a goodwill gesture, we welcome all our Bahraini patrons to Lanterns on Tuesday 29 March to have complimentary food on us,” the statement said.

The incident comes at a time when an Indian court upheld a ban on the hijab inside educational institutions, maintaining that the garment is not essential to the practice of Islam. The decision was in context of a group of young Muslim girls campaigning for their right to wear the hijab in the classroom, leading to a long and bitter standoff between them and the government of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

The article was amended on 29 March 2022 to remove a reference to the duty manager of the restaurant being Indian. This claim was stated in earlier reports, but a friend of the woman who had allegedly been turned away from the restaurant has stated that he was British and not Indian.