Police Warning To Zomato User Who Cancelled Order Over “Non-Hindu Rider”
Amit Shukla had gone public with his complaint against food ordering platform Zomato for assigning him a "non-hindu" delivery executive
A man who cancelled his order because he was assigned a “non-Hindu” delivery executive by food ordering service Zomato, triggering a nationwide debate over religious intolerance, has been sent a notice by the police in Madhya Pradesh, warning him of jail if he tweets anything divisive in the next six months.
“If in the next six months, he again makes any such tweets or commits any such act which is against basic tenets of the constitution or worthy of disturbing public peace or communal amity, then he will automatically be sent to jail,” Jabalpur district police superintendent Amit Singh told NDTV.
The police have also put him under surveillance, he said, adding the man had violated constitutional provisions where there is no place for any kind of untouchability and acts disturbing religious harmony.
On Tuesday night, the man from Madhya Pradesh had tweeted about cancelling his order placed on Zomato as the designated rider was a “non-Hindu”.
“Just cancelled an order on Zomato,” Amit Shukla tweeted. “They allocated a non-Hindu rider for my food. They said they can’t change rider and can’t refund on cancellation.”
Zomato’s response took the internet by storm and set off a major conversation online about bigotry and discrimination. “Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion,” the company tweeted.
Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal also backed up the stand, saying, “We are proud of the idea of India – and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren’t sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values.”
While thousands, including competitors like Uber Eats, tweeted in praise of Zomato’s stand, a backlash attacking the platform for labelling eateries as “Halal” – the kind that adheres to Islamic law as defined in the Quran – also found support.
