woman seeks Rs 1 crore compensation for getting non-veg pizza from restaurant

A woman hailing from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad has filed a complaint with the consumer court alleging that a pizza restaurant chain’s outlet delivered her a non-vegetarian pizza causing her ‘mental agony’ and has demanded compensation of ₹1 crore from the restaurant chain.

UP resident Deepali Tyagi, who is a pure-vegetarian has said in her petition that the action has spoiled her religious practices and has since demanded damages for it. In her petition, the woman also said that she is a pure vegetarian due to her ‘religious beliefs, teachings, family traditions, own conscience, and her best choice.’ The petition said that on March 21, 2019, Deepali had ordered a vegetarian pizza from the outlet near her house in Ghaziabad.

Also, she said it was the Holi festival that day and the family was hungry after the festival. Deepali said that the restaurant failed to deliver the food within their own stipulated time frame of 30 minutes but she ignored it. But when the family took a bite of the pizza, they realised it was a non-vegetarian dish and had meat instead of mushroom as she had ordered.

The consumer court was informed by Deepali’s lawyer Farhat Warsi that she spoke to customer care and complained about the “gross” negligence of delivering a non-veg pizza in a house of pure vegetarians. Four days later, the district manager of the pizza outlet called her and offered to serve pizzas to Deepika’s whole family free of cost.

But to which, the complainant said that the incident has caused her long standing mental agony and she will now have to undergo long and costly religious rituals for her entire life. The manager then said that the matter would be handed to the chain’s legal team. Deepali has alleged that the restaurant chain had a ‘very casual’ approach towards the matter and that their offer of serving pizza free of cost was a ‘mockery an insult to the social and financial status’ of the complainant.

“That the opposite party’s negligent manner of performance has contaminated complainant body with food mixed with animal meat that was acquired by killing and cutting short the life given by God to any animal. In her religious belief killing any animal and eating its meat is a “paap” (sin). The opposite party has a deceitfully involved complainant in that sin of eating animal meat.

They have wounded her soul giving her mental agony for her whole life. They have ravaged her religious belief,” her petition said. Deepali has also urged in her plea that the pizza outlet be made to pay her compensation for mental harassment and financial difficulties that was caused by them. The pizza outlet has been asked to file a reply to the woman’s complaint and the next hearing has been set on March 17.