Hyderabad: An incident of a customer refusing to accept food from a delivery boy because he was a Muslim has left Hyderabad shocked, as it happened in the old city area, believed to be among the safest for the Muslim minority.
The customer, Ajay Kumar, a resident of Ali Abad, refused to accept the parcel of Chicken-65 when he came to know the religious identity of the person who brought it.
But the most interesting part was that he had placed the order for the food with Grand Bawarch, a restaurant owned by a Muslim.
Shah Ali Banda police station in Hyderabad registered a case against Kumar on the complaint of the delivery person Mudassir Sulaiman, after the customer not only refused to accept the food but abused him in the name of his community and religion.
"Please select a Hindu delivery person"
While placing the order and making an online payment on Swiggy, a food delivery service, Kumar had given his preference as “very less spicy and please select Hindu delivery person. All ratings will be based on this”.
The incident was second such episode in the country indicating the increasingly virulent anti-minority environment created by the hate campaign on social media and other forums.
Earlier, in Jabalpur, another customer had asked Zomato to send his food through a Hindu delivery person but the food delivery company had rejected his request, leading to cancellation of the order.
Kumar got furious when Mudassir called him over phone to ask for directions. “He started shouting at me when I told him my name. He said he was rejecting the delivery because I was a Muslim.”
Not leaving the matter there, Kumar also called up Swiggy and had a verbal duel with the customer care executive. He wanted the order cancelled and money refunded because the company had sent a Muslim worker when he wanted a Hindu to bring the food. In a conversation that was recorded by the company, Kumar said he does not mind losing his money but would never accept the food from a Muslim delivery person.
Swiggy executive explained that the orders were assigned to delivery persons based on GPS. “It was allotted to Mudassir because he happened to be closest to the address,” he said.
Upset over the incident Mudassir approached the police and registered a complaint that Kumar had sought to create communal divide in society by his discriminatory and hate filled behaviour.
Amjadullah Khan, leader of Majlis Bachao Tehreek party, demanded that Swiggy should also lodge a complaint against the man for his hate-mongering.
