BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha denied that it asked for the removal or sidelining of female employees during its September 5, 2023, visit to the Eiffel Tower, and a Paris police investigation found no written request.
The incident triggered a staff walkout and a one‑day closure of the monument, sparking outrage across France’s secular political spectrum. The delegation had requested that the visit be organised so as to limit interactions with women, a condition that senior staff later refused to accept.
The General Inspectorate of Public Safety examined emails and statements and found no evidence of a BAPS directive; a report by Le Parisien notes that the message was distorted when it spread by word of mouth. According to a Parisian elected official, the only records were informal conversations, not formal instructions.
In the wake of the controversy, Patrick Branco‑Ruivo, chief of the company that runs the Eiffel Tower, announced his resignation at the end of the year to "protect employees and preserve the team." The tower reopened after BAPS issued a public apology, and the investigation will report its findings to the Paris mayor.