An advocacy group has accused a restaurant chain owned by Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli of discriminating against the LGBTQIA+ community. In an Instagram post, ‘Yes, We Exist’ claimed that One8.commune’s Pune branch had confirmed that it only allows entry to cisgender heterosexual couples or groups of cisgender women. “Gay couples or a group of gay men are not allowed; trans women allowed subject to their clothing,” the group quoted the branch as saying.

The LGBTQIA+ activism group also stated that the Delhi branch of One8 Commune did not respond to its queries and the Kolkata branch said “stags are not allowed.”

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“Discrimination against LGBTQIA+ guests is common at such fancy restaurants, bars and clubs in India, and Virat Kohli is no exception,” it said.

The group also called out Zomato for not ignoring its pledge of not partnering with restaurants that discriminated against people of LGBTQIA+ communities.

Tagging Kohli in their post, the group said he was “probably not aware of” the discrimination against LGBTQIA+ guests at his restaurant.

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“We have emailed Zomato asking if they have attempted to sensitise Virat Kohli. We shall share an update here once we hear back,” YesWeExistIndia said. “Often it’s the high-end restaurants that practise such discriminatory policies; the ones that you most likely get large sums of ad money from. This needs to end.”

Responding to the claims, One8 Commune said the restaurant chain believes in “welcoming all people irrespective of their gender and/or preferences.”

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“As our name denotes, we have always been inclusive in serving all communities since our inception,” it said in a statement.

It added that it was only following “industry wide practice” and  government rules” in “a prohibition of stag entry policy (subject to relaxation) in place so as to ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for our guests.”

“This does not in any way mean that our company policy provides any discriminatory entry rules for/against any particular community,” One8 Commune said.