Zomato customer gets police notice over 'non-Hindu' delivery row
What's the story
The Madhya Pradesh police on Thursday sent a notice to a Zomato customer, who had canceled an order placed on the food delivery app as he was unwilling to accept food from a Muslim delivery executive. The police sought a written undertaking from the customer, Amit Shukla, that he would not spread religious hatred and put him under surveillance. Here are more details.
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'He'll be warned, if he tweets against ideals of Constitution'
Superintendent of Police Amit Singh told PTI, "We took suo motu (on their own) action against Shukla." "We've issued a notice. It will be served to Amit Shukla (Twitter user who canceled food order over Zomato deliveryman's religion). He'll be warned, if he tweets anything which is against the ideals of the Constitution, action will be taken; he is on surveillance," Singh told ANI.
Details
Shukla to be put under surveillance
Singh said that the police has also put Shukla under surveillance, adding that he violated constitutional provisions which disallow any kind of untouchability and acts disturbing religious harmony. The notice was issued under Section 107 (security for keeping peace) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The matter was referred to Garha police station which has jurisdiction over the area where Shukla lives.
Incident
Controversy erupted after Shukla's tweet on Tuesday
On Tuesday, Shukla had tweeted, "Just canceled an order on @ZomatoIN they allocated a non-Hindu rider for my food they said they can't change rider and can't refund on cancellation." He said he wouldn't accept an order from a Muslim rider during the "holy month" of Shravan. He also said he would delete the app and also threatened legal action against Zomato.
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Tweet led to nationwide divisive debates
Shukla was largely criticized, even by Zomato, and Twitter users dug up Shukla's older misogynistic tweets. Thereafter, he deleted his Twitter account. However, many had banded in support of Shukla, seeking a boycott of Zomato and Uber Eats, which extended support to the food aggregator.