Extremism
‘No Muslim staff’: Bakery owner posts Islamophobic advertisement, arrested
Islamophobia grows in India during COVID crises, shows report
Owner of a business in Chennai’s was arrested for publicizing that it employs no Muslims to prepare food items.
In a WhatsApp advertisement, Jain Bakeries and Confectioneries pointed out that all their orders are “made by Jains” and “no Muslim staff” were engaged for the purpose. After the post went viral on social media platforms, police arrested Prasanth, the owner of the bakery, and booked him under various sections of the IPC.
The shop owner can be prosecuted Sections 153 (provocation to cause riot), 153A, 505 (inciting commission of offence against another community) and 295A (insult a class of people) IPC.
A wave of Islamophobic attacks and targeting of Muslims, has come to fore during the COVID crises, with Muslims being accused of purposefully spearing the virus, a recently report has observed.
“During April, a new trend was observed communally charged disinformation targeting Muslims became more frequent,” the report said.
It further says that Islamophobic rumours around them purposefully spreading the virus were doing rounds on the social media.
Recently, Congress Treasurer Ahmed Patel questioned the “silence” of the National Human Rights Commission over targeting of the Muslim community by certain sections of the society and the media.
Patel was apparently referring to the harassment of the Muslim vendors through various means and said that it’s “contrary” to the WHO guidelines.
In New Delhi, the Tablighi Jamaat has been blamed by many for the spread of the virus due to which the entire community has been stigmatized by the people.
Two BJP MLAs in Uttar Pradesh reportedly told people not to buy vegetables from the Muslim vendors, and in Madhya Pradesh, a poster was put out in a village that Muslim traders were not allowed to enter the area.
While the MP government lodged an FIR, the BJP unit in Uttar Pradesh also issued a notice to the MLA.
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