Justice Hariparanthaman was denied entry to the club as he was wearing a 'dhoti'.
The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Club in Chennai, which has been pilloried for refusing entry to a Madras High Court Judge in a dhoti, will re-examine its dress code.
The club only allows members or guests dressed in full trousers, shirts or T shirts with collars and leather shoes to access the club. And so it told the dhoti-clad Justice Hariparanthaman, who had come there to attend a book release function on July 11, as it turned him away.
"After over 60 years of Independence, I can't accept this. They can have rules for their members, not for visitors who come on invitation," said the Judge crossly. Political leaders backed him.
Club officials, under immense fire, blamed the member who had invited the Judge to the club, for not briefing the guest on the dress code. "The member has apologised to us," a club official claimed.
The club has promised to review rules at the next annual general meeting, but a senior official defended the dress code saying, "The ban on dhoti is to prevent wardrobe malfunction under the influence of alcohol, nothing else. (But) We can't say so in public".
On Monday, the dhoti issue found its way to the Tamil Nadu assembly courtesy DMK leader MK Stalin, who raised the issue. "It's not just the TNCA Club, many clubs like the Gymkhana Club, Race Course Club and Boat Club also follow such a rule, which has not changed in the 67 years the British left the country."
His 89-year-old father and party chief M Karunanidhi fumed at the episode and said the dhoti is a "symbol of Tamil culture", and sought the state government's intervention. Other parties like DMDK, CPI(M) and Congress also slammed the club.
There are those, however, who argue that clubs are well within their rights to frame dress codes to "maintain decorum". Mr Kdu Moorthy, a member of the Madras Boat Club, said, "If someone wants to come to the club, it is better that they adhere to the rules. No one is forced to come here".