While the club admits the woman was refused entry, it adamantly denies that this was a decision based on ethnicity and that scores of people get turned away when the club is busy. Anyway, this alleged incident has become a bit of a cause celebre among a slice of Delhi's club-going community so I decided to make some inquiries.

The young woman, who is from Nagaland and who asked not be identified, told me she was now taking legal action against the club and has demanded a public apology. "This is not about a woman not being allowed into a club," she said. "It's about discrination against people from the north-east. It makes us feel like second class citizens." 

The indigenous people from India's north-eastern states have long complained of discrimination in other parts of India, largely as a result of a caste system which labels them as "scheduled castes and tribes", in which they are grouped with Dalits or so-called untoucables. The irony, they say, is that they do not recognise the caste sysem in their communities.

The north-eastern states - Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh - are a world apart from the rest of India. Predominantly Buddhist and Christian, the people of the north-east look more oriental than most Indians, something that say immediately stands them out for discrimination. Many women from the north-east complain they suffer from stereotyping which paints them as being sexually promiscuous.

Last year police at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University sparked controvery when they published a booklet designed to "help" students from the north-east, which advised that "bamboo shoots and other smelly food" should be prepared without upsetting other students and that:  "Revealing dress should be avoided. Avoid lonely road/by-lanes when dressed scantily."

The woman's lawyer, Enatoli Sema, who is also from the north-east, said people from her region faced constant discrmination once they moved away. "For a long time I had to struggle in Delhi. I was made to feel inferior," said Ms Sema, who has filed a legal notice against the club. "As far as I know this is that first time that the matter has been taken up by anyone."

The incident is said to have happened when the young woman, who works in the media, went to the club in South Delhi two weeks ago on a so-called "expat night", which Indians are also permitted to attend. The woman says that while her friends were allowed to enter, doormen told her she did not have a "good profile". When one of her friends complained, the doorman asked what country the woman was from. When she said north-eastern India, the doorman is said to have again repeated that she did not have a "good profile".

One of the woman's friends, a 27-year-old publishing editor from southern India, told me: "This is more than a cause celebre. People are saying they have seen this sort of discrimination happen and no-one has ever stood up against it."

As I said earlier, the club insists it does not operate a racist door policy. I called the co-owner, Kashif Farooq. He said that while the doormen at the bar do examine the way someone is dressed and how they are acting before deciding whether to admit them, race was not a factor. Mr Farooq said he would not apologise "professionally" because his staff were just doing their job, but he added: "If her feelings have been hurt, I'm sorry... It was just a mistake and she is taking it too personally.”