Vadodara, Mar 29: A consumer forum in Gujarat's Vadodara district has imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on a local boutique for causing "mental trauma" to a woman by stitching her garments improperly, due to which she had to wear some other clothes during a wedding event in her family.

The Vadodara District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (additional), in its order passed on March 7, noted that the complainant woman had planned to wear the garments during her nephew's wedding.

In its order, the forum said that since these garments - three blouses and two dresses - were not stitched properly, it "must have ruined the excitement and caused mental trauma" to the woman.

"Hence, we order the boutique to pay Rs 5,000 to the complainant for causing mental harassment," it said.

It also ordered the boutique, La Vichitra, to pay Rs 3,000 that the woman had paid towards the stitching charges and Rs 2,000 towards legal costs.

As per the case details, one Deepika Dave of Ahmedabad had visited La Vichitra boutique in October 2017 to get three matching blouse pieces, which she received with three saris she purchased from another shop, stitched.

She also gave another blouse piece and two dresses of her daughter for stitching and paid Rs 5,000 for the stitching work to be done.

When Dave visited the shop again in November 2017 and tried them, she realised that all three blouses were not improperly stitched. Similarly, her daughter's two dresses were also not stitched properly.

When Dave asked the boutique owner to buy new blouse pieces for her and stitch them again with no extra cost, the owner refused, the order said.

The woman then approached the consumer forum and filed a complaint in August 2018. In her plea, Dave said she had purchased three saris in view of the wedding and paid Rs 10,800.

Through her complaint, she sought a compensation of Rs 13,200 claiming that because of the badly-stitched matching blouses, she could not wear those particular saris at the wedding event.

During the hearing, Dave submitted evidence of payment to the shop and also informed the forum that the owner had refunded Rs 2,000 out of Rs 5,000 paid for the stitching job.

As per the order, the opponent, despite getting the notice, neither remained present during the hearing nor challenged the claims made by the complainant through an affidavit.

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Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.

AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.

“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.

He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.

“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.

According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.

In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.

AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.