Hindu Group BAPS Didn't Ask For Eiffel Women Employees To Be Removed: Probe

BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha has denied requesting the removal or sidelining of female employees during its recent visit to the Eiffel Tower. An investigation by the General Inspectorate of the City of Paris, concluded that "a collective dysfunction" occurred during the incident.

According to a report by Le Parisien, the General Inspectorate of Public Safety said that there was no "explicit request from the Hindu religious delegation to exclude women from the entire procession."

The investigation said that the decisions were taken "between consenting adults" and that they did not find any document in writing by the Hindu group, that requested the removal of women staff during their visit.

"There is not a single written document, not a single email expressing this opinion. Everything was done between consenting adults", the report stated.

A Parisien elected official told the publication that the message got "distorted" after being circulated by word of mouth.

"By having an instruction circulate by word of mouth, the message got distorted. Until we reached these failures", they said.

The investigation was launched following a staff walkout and public outrage after female employees were removed or kept out of sight during a private visit by BAPS.

READ | Eiffel Tower Shuts After Women Staff "Sidelined" For Hindu Group's Visit

Patrick Branco Ruivo, the chief of the operating company that runs the Eiffel Tower will be stepping down at the end of the year after an internal probe revealed that "operational flaws and shortcomings" in organising the visit led to the "unacceptable" removal of women staff on September 5, the company SETE said in a statement.

The report by Le Parisien said that Branco-Ruivo resigned to "protect (the employees) and preserve the team."

The Controversy Surrounding The BAPS Visit To Eiffel Tower

The removal of women staff during a visit by the BAPS on September 5 prompted a staff walkout and the closure of the monument for a day, as well as an outcry across political spectrum in France which prizes secularism and gender equality.

At the time, SETE acknowledged the Hindu delegation had requested the visit be organised so as to limit "interactions with women" and said that "these conditions should not have been accepted".

READ | Eiffel Tower Reopens After Hindu Group Apologises For Removing Women Staff

Eiffel Tower staff said in a statement they were given instructions that led to "female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex" during the visit by the delegation.

"Some were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to other areas. In some posts they were replaced by men. And all female employees were instructed not to go through or cross certain areas while the delegation was present", the statement said.