A housing society in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida has come up with a peculiar dress code which bans residents from wearing nightgowns and lungis while coming in the common spaces. In a notice issued in Himsagar society, residents were urged not to step out of their houses wearing ‘lungis and nighties’ for walking. The notice titled “Dress code for walking in the premises of the society" was issued by Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA) of Himsagar Society in Greater Noida’s Sector Phi-2, as per a report by NDTV.
"It is expected from all of you that whenever you roam in the society at any time, you should pay special attention to your conduct and dress so that you do not give any chance to someone to object to your behaviour... Therefore, everyone is requested not to roam around wearing lungi and nightie which are home wear," read the circular dated June 10, as per the report.
While the decision was lauded by RWA President, many netizens criticised it as the news went viral on social media.
“This is a good decision taken by society and everyone must respect it, there is nothing to oppose. If women wear nighties and roam around, that will be uncomfortable for men and if men wear Lungis that would be uncomfortable for women as well so we need to respect each other,” RWA President CK Kalra told news agency ANI.
However, Devender Tiger, president, Federation of RWAs in Greater Noida, disagreed. “A residential society is not an educational institution that it needs a dress code,” he said.
Rajiva Singh, president of Noida Federation of Apartment Owner’s Association (NOFAA) said that welfare associations do not have authority to draft or define such guidelines.
“We cannot define or restrict any particular type of clothing which people may prefer to wear. Rather we need to respect on peoples choices. Care can be taken that it does not harm the religious or cultural sentiments of any particular community around,” he said.
Meanwhile the notice has sparked criticism from social media users on the internet.
“The number of people who are okay with this decision shows how superficial we are. What makes shorts ok and lungis inappropriate? And how much time we have for non-issues because we lack real ones perhaps,” said one Twitter user. “This is absurd,” said another user.
