"Where only girls are staying boy visitors shall not be allowed and where boys are staying girl visitors shall not be allowed.”
The residents of Essel towers in Gurgaon's MG Road were greeted with an unpleasant notice by the RWA Saturday morning. The notice with the subject ‘rules and regulations for residents and visitors’ reportedly read, "Where only girls are staying boy visitors shall not be allowed and where boys are staying girl visitors shall not be allowed.”
According to a report by the Indian Express, the residents have alleged 'moral policing' by the Residents’ Welfare Association.
The earlier rule allowed people of the opposite sex to visit the residents but didn't allow them to stay overnight. Now, members of opposite sex are not allowed to visit at all.
Quoting a resident, the report said "Earlier, they had a rule that members of the opposite sex could not stay overnight, and had to leave by 10 pm. A few days ago, one of my female friends came for dinner and was planning to leave around 11 pm. But at 9.30 pm, guards turned up and demanded that she leave immediately.”
Another resident said that “They will allow a man and a woman to interact within the locality only if they are married.”
Gurgaon RWA has courted controversy before too, owing to their stringent and what many would call, regressive rules. In November last year, a woman was evicted from the apartment of her male friend in an upscale society in Gurgaon’s Ardee city as they were both unmarried. The woman who was from Barcelona had visited India for the first time and wanted to stay with a friend till she could find a place of her own.