After backlash faced by user, matrimonial site Shaadi.com removes the skin complexion filter

Shaadi.com, a matrimonial website, recently removed the skin colour filter from the website. This happened after the website faced a backlash from the users over racism.
According to reports, the website removed the skin colour filter after US-based Hetal Lakhani started an online petition against the website’s complexion filter, which allowed users to search for options on the basis of skin colour.

The removal of the skin colour option came amid the raging debate over the racism and colourism due to which many Bollywood celebrities faced backlash on the internet for their endorsement of fairness creams. "The obsession with fair skin is still notorious within South Asian communities," wrote Hetal Lakhani in her online petition, which has received over 1,600 signatures, according to the report.

"Shaadi.com has a colour filter that asks users to indicate the colour of their skin using descriptors like 'Fair', 'Wheatish', and 'Dark' and allows users the ability to search for potential partners on the basis of their skin colour," she wrote. "We demand that Shaadi.com must permanently remove its skin colour filter to prevent users from selectively searching for matches based on their preferred skin colour." Theeason behind Heta's petition was Meghan Nagpal's Facebook post. Megan was a user of the wesite. Reports quotes that Meghan had emailed the website showing her disagreement over the filter and it return the reply she recieved was "This is a filter required by most parents."

Hetal came across this post and then she took it up on a larger platfrom and made sure the website removes this filter especially when so much is happening in the world over colourism.