A Bengaluru woman has alleged that the staff at a popular clothing retailer forced her to remove her clothes after a false security alarm went off while she was leaving the store.
In a social media post titled, “Falsely Accused of Theft and Asked to Undress in Zara Bangalore,” the woman described it as the “most humiliating and violating experiences” of her life.
A third commented: “File an FIR before they delete the CCTV footage; Zara won’t do anything. The incident took place at Zara in Forum South Mall when the woman was stepping out of the store after trying on a few clothes, when the security alarm went off. The staff suspected she had an unpaid garment underneath her clothes and decided to conduct a security check. “I requested a female employee and even offered to let her feel the edges of my shirt to verify there was nothing underneath since they mentioned it was an upper garment. What happened next was absolutely disgusting,” the woman wrote. The female employee took her to the trial room and demanded that she remove her shirt. Despite refusing multiple times, the employee refused to budge, saying she would not be allowed to leave. Leaving the store without calling police to the spot was a bad idea. Press charges. Based on what you’ve described, there are several legal avenues worth examining under Indian law.
Do not let this go,” said one user, while another added: “What you experienced goes well beyond a badly handled security check. If I were in your place, I would have first complied for the basic check, but when things got uncomfortable, I would have calmly called the cops and told the store to wait until they arrived.”
Then she demanded that I remove my pants too. Again, I refused. She proceeded to touch my body with her bare hands and even asked me to remove my intimate clothing, which I firmly refused. Despite putting her through the humiliation, the staff found ‘absolutely nothing’ on her. Start beating her now?” and pointed out that the employee who checked me was a woman, as though that somehow justified everything.
Because i felt cornered, “I eventually gave in. Because it could affect the employees’ careers.”, he then asked me NOT TO ESCALATE it to Zara or elsewhere.
Again, she insisted and said I had to. Since when does a retail employee have the right to force a woman to strip and touch her body against her will?” she said. They said the alarm was just a glitch. “When I confronted the manager, he initially admitted that the employees had violated store procedures, but then immediately started defending them,” she said. “He sarcastically asked something along the lines of, “What do you want me to do?
Social media users empathised with the woman and advised her not to let the case go and press charges as the store employees crossed a line. F*ck these guys. Get each one of them fired and demand an apology from the brand.”
A fourth said: “File a case against the store employees and send a legal notice to the brand.
