A man in Mumbai has been arrested for allegedly refusing to accept groceries from a Muslim delivery boy.
According to a report by TOI, the incident occurred on Tuesday, 21st April, when 32-year-old Barkat Patel, a Grofers delivery boy, was doing his duty of delivering the orders.
As per guidelines, he was supposed to deliver the order to a woman named Jaya Chaturvedi outside her apartment complex. Just when the woman was about to accept the order, another family member, Gajanan Chaturvedi, stopped her and started questioning the delivery boy.
The first question he asked was the delivery boy’s name and as soon as he learned that he’s a Muslim, he refused to accept the order.
The delivery boy, Barkat Patel, recorded the entire incident on his mobile phone and handed it over to the police while registering a complaint. Speaking to Indian Express, he said:
The lady wanted to take the parcel but the man said no. When he said he would not take the parcel from Muslims, I did not say anything and started to record him on my phone. It was very hurtful.
The police has booked Gajanan Chaturvedi under relevant sections of the IPC for committing a deliberate or malicious act with the intention of outraging Patel’s religious feelings.
In his statement to TOI, Patel said:
I have been risking my life and delivering essential goods to homes. And to think that in these tough times too, people want to focus on religion is shocking and saddening.
Despite everything that happened, Patel wants to continue doing his job in these tough times.