Compensation For ‘Bad Haircut’: SC Stays NCDRC Order Directing ITC To Pay ₹2 Crore

The Supreme Court today stayed a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) order that confirmed its previous award of ₹2 crores as compensation to an aspiring model for a bad haircut she suffered at the ITC Maurya hotel.

The bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia issued notice to the respondent, Aashna Roy on ITC’s appeal challenging the NCDRC award.

This is the 2nd round of litigation in the matter before the apex court.

This year in February, the Supreme Court set aside the compensation amount that was first awarded in September 2021 and set aside the matter to NDRC for a fresh determination.

Therefore, the NCDRC considered the matter from a fresh face before reaffirming its previous order.

The NCDRC order depends on emails & applications of proposed modelling and acting contracts that were presented by the petitioner to reaffirm the prior amount it awarded.
In September 2021, the first order granting the award was passed, and the respondent ITC Hotels was directed to pay the amount with 9% interest from that date.

The incident in question took place in 2018.

Aashna Roy (petitioner), was scheduled to appear for an interview, before which she went to the salon at the ITC Maurya Hotel in New Delhi on April 12 for a haircut. She asked for her regular hairdresser but since she was not available, another stylist was assigned at that time.

According to Roy, a simple haircut, took over an hour, after that she was in “utter shock” when she saw that the stylist “chopped off her entire hair leaving only 4 inches from the top and barely touching to her shoulders”, which was against her instructions.

Subsequently, she offered hair treatment free of cost by the hotel, to which she is said to have agreed after a lot of coercion.

However, post-treatment, she alleged that her hair turned “hard and rough” in addition to an itchy and burnt scalp. She later tried to seek the assistance of the hotel staff in the matter but alleged they were “abusive, rude and disrespectful” and she was threatened.

Roy further stated that she even approached the management of ITC Group & Hotels. She then filed the plea alleging deficiency in service on the part of opposite parties and sought a written apology from the ITC Management besides ₹3 crore in compensation alleging harassment, humiliation & mental trauma.

The NCDRC initially awarded her an amount of ₹2 crores, after holding that owing to the haircut against Aashna Roy’s instructions, by the hotel’s salon, she lost her expected assignments and “suffered a huge loss” that completely changed her lifestyle and “shattered her dream to be a top model”.

ITC Hotels were, therefore, held guilty of medical negligence by the NCDRC.