INDIA’S TOP COURT PUTS DISCRIMINATORY ORDER AGAINST EATERIES ON HOLD

Tue 23 July 2024:

India’s Supreme Court has put on hold directives issued by authorities in two Indian states for eateries to identify their owners.

The court passed the interim order on Monday while issuing notice on a batch of petitions challenging the government directives, according to the legal news website Livelaw.

The bench, however, clarified that the eateries should display the type of food being served.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, India’s largest socio-religious Muslim organisation, expressed concern about the order in the northern Uttar Pradesh state and Uttarakhand, asking eateries including roadside carts to display the names of their owners to “avoid confusion” during a Hindu holy pilgrimage when thousands of worshippers will make the journey on foot.

VIDEO | “We have just got a stay on the completely illegal and unconstitutional Kanwar Yatra order which UP had started and then parts of Uttarakhand (were implementing). This was leading to religious discrimination and we had filed (a plea) against it. The Supreme Court has… pic.twitter.com/YxVgUMmAwO

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 22, 2024

Last week, police in the Uttar Pradesh state’s Muzaffarnagar district initially ordered all eateries along the pilgrimage route to display the names of their owners.

Days later, the state government had extended the controversial order across the state, according to local media.

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Hindu pilgrimage

Police in Haridwar in neighbouring Uttarakhand’s Haridwar issued similar directions Friday.

Opposition leaders have criticised the government for the order.

A minister from Uttar Pradesh, however, defended the government’s stance as a “matter of social harmony.”

The yearly pilgrimage takes place from July 22 to Aug. 2, which is the Hindu holy month of Sawan. Hindu pilgrims trek for days or weeks at a time to pilgrimage spots along the sacred Ganges river to gather water to be offered at Shiva temples.

Usually, police are called in to keep the peace and traffic restrictions are in place. However, there have been reports of violence and vandalism in recent years as a result of the lack of crowd management as huge groups of young men pass through popular cities, sometimes walking in the centre of the road.

The Hotel Owner claims, Muzaffarnagar administration asked the owner to remove 4 Muslims from Sakshi Dhaba till Kanwar yatra is over (5th August). They were working there from 2012. The owner says his manager Shafqat himself used to serve the devotees, he had to be removed… pic.twitter.com/rEuoHklr6c

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) July 18, 2024

What is the impact?

Muzaffarnagar, where deadly Hindu-Muslim riots had left at least 60 people dead in 2013. Several local vendors and shop owners said they thought the order was “an attempt to alienate Muslims”.

Many shops, eateries and road-side food stalls along the highway from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh displayed the names of their owners and workers in big, bold red letters. Some said they had been forced into it by the police.

But authorities claimed that eatery owners in the district had voluntarily complied with the order.

Vakeel Ahmad, the owner of Lover’s Tea Point, a popular tea shop in Muzzafarnagar’s Khatauli area, said he renamed it Vakeel Sahab Chai after a police visit.

“But police visited again and argued that the name does not make it clear that I am a Muslim. They forced me to put up another signboard with the name Vakeel Ahmad.”

Mr Ahmad said it was upsetting to change the decade-old identity of his shop.

A food stall owner said he had removed four of his Muslim employees, including the manager of his eatery. “You need to understand our situation. We don’t want any controversy,” he said on condition of anonymity.

The Hindu owner of another eatery in the district said the police had visited his shop to ask if he employed any Muslim workers. “I told them I did not have any working for me at present. They advised me against employing any Muslims,” he alleged.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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