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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Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Congress working president Naseem Khan on Friday expressed disappointment over the party or the opposition bloc MVA not fielding any Muslim candidate for the Lok Sabha polls in the state and told AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge he was pulling out of campaigning.

In a letter to Kharge, Khan said he will not campaign for party candidates for remaining phases of the Lok Sabha polls and is also resigning from the state Congress campaign committee.

The former state minister said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), of which the Congress is a key constituent, has not nominated a single Muslim candidate in Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh (80).

Many Muslim organisations, leaders and also party workers from all over Maharashtra were expecting the Congress to nominate at least one candidate from the minority community, but unfortunately this has not happened, he noted.

Now, they are asking "Congress ko Muslim vote chahiye, candidate kyun nahi (why Congress wants Muslim votes, but does not want to field any Muslim candidate)?" said the 60-year-old politician.

"I am also upset with this unfair decision of the Congress party. Before this, whenever the party gave me election responsibility in Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Maharashtra and other states I executed it gracefully and with my full efforts," said Khan in the letter.

"I have no answers to Muslims and their organisations in Maharashtra raising such issues (not fielding candidate from the community). Therefore, I have decided not to campaign for the party during the Lok Sabha elections 2024," he said.

Khan said he is also resigning from the Maharashtra Congress Campaign Committee.

The Congress is contesting 17 out the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in alliance with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar). They are constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Speaking separately to PTI, Khan said the Congress it seems has deviated from its long held ideology of inclusivity.

The former cabinet minister said he was inundated with calls from organisations representing minorities and party workers from these social groups, asking why the Congress has ignored them while allotting tickets for elections in Maharashtra.

"I am unable to face questions of why injustice has been done (to minority groups). The party has deviated from its inclusive ideology and giving representation to all communities," said a miffed Khan.

The Maharashtra Congress working president was in race for a ticket from Mumbai North Central, but the party chose city unit president Varsha Gaikwad for the constituency.

Khan had lost the 2019 assembly elections from Chandivali in Mumbai by 409 votes.