A job posting on LinkedIn has sparked outrage on social media and prompted the company and the HR recruiter to issue an apology. In a now-deleted post, a freelancer HR recruiter and consultant from Gujarat shared a job opening in Mumbai for the role of a Graphic Designer. The post, shared by an HR professional named Janvi Sarna, outlined the job requirements, including experience and salary details. However, what triggered a widespread backlash online was a statement which read, "Marathi people are not welcome here".
Sharing a screenshot of the LinkedIn post on X (formerly Twitter), one user tagged the Mumbai police and Maharashtra Cyber crime branch and wrote, "This is Janvi Sarna from Surat. HR recruiter in IT CODE INFOTECH. In one of her LinkedIn post she mentioned a very discriminatory condition "#Marathi People are not welcome here". Please take action".
Take a look at the job posting below:
After the post went viral on social media, the company and the freelance HR recruiter issued an apology. ITCODE Infotech, an IT Services and IT Consulting firm, distanced itself from the individual responsible for the post. "We strongly condemn the recent hateful post directed towards Marathi people by JANVI SARNA. It's important to clarify that she is not affiliated with our company in any capacity; she simply utilized our company name on LinkedIn, a platform open to anyone," the company wrote in a LinkedIn post.
"We have reached out to her for clarification, and she has since apologized and updated her current employment details, which you can verify. Additionally, we want to reiterate that we have not posted any job requirements recently. Please take note of this and refer to our previous hiring posts for verification," it added.
Separately, Ms Sarna also apologised for the same. "I really apologize. A few days back I posted a graphic designer job opening post and because of a single objectionable sentence many people's sentiments got hurt.This is to inform you that I don't endorse such comments which discriminate against anyone.It was due to my oversight ,i posted this job opening here," she wrote.
Ms Sarna also clarified that "since I am working as a freelancer & working with lots of companies ,ITcode infotech firm was one of them & that post was not related with itcode infotech , It was due to my oversight. i posted that job opening".
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Meanwhile, on social media, users condemned the biased requirement, citing exclusion and past discrimination against Marathi individuals.
"This is not the 1st time that Marathi people are facing discrimination. There have been many cases in Mumbai. Marathis are hated in their own soil maharashtra by mostly Gujratis,Marwaris. We have been very inclusive, welcoming for everybody," wrote one user.
"This is really very shameful." commented another. "This is unacceptable if true. Action should be such that no one in the country will discriminate ever again," expressed a third user.
