The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) passed an order to award Rs 2 crore compensation to a model for a wrong haircut and hair treatment given to her by staff at a salon in a five-star hotel in Delhi.
While passing the order, the commission observed, “The complainant was a model for hair products because of her long hair. She has done modeling for VLCC and Pantene. But due to hair cutting against her instructions, by the Opposite Party No 2, she lost her expected assignments and suffered a huge loss which completely changed her lifestyle and shattered her dream to be a top model.”
The commission said the model, who was working as a senior management professional, lost her job and underwent “severe mental breakdown and trauma” due to the “medical negligence” while giving the hair treatment by the staff at the salon.
“She was also working as a senior management professional and earning a decent income. She underwent severe mental breakdown and trauma due to negligence of the Opposite Party No.2 in cutting her hair and could not concrete her job and finally, she lost her job. This apart, the Opposite Party No.2 is also guilty of medical negligence in hair treatment. Her scalp was burnt and still there is allergy and itching due to fault of the staff of Opposite Party No.2,” the order stated.
The model said she was “left with little or almost no hair” due to the faulty hair treatment given to her.
“She submitted that due to her long well-cared hair she modeled for prestigious brands like VLCC and Pantene for hair products and she was also planning to pursue modelling as her side career. She was also offered a movie as her hair complemented her presentable demeanour. It is submitted that she has gone through the pain and trauma for the last two years after this incident,” the commission observed.
In her complaint, Aashna Roy stated she had visted the salon at the five-star hotel in Delhi in 2018. She said she was “shocked and surprised” to see that despite her “specific instructions for long flicks/layers covering her face in the front”, the hairdresser had “chopped off her entire hair leaving only four inch from the top touching her shoulders”.