Near Mumbai, Man Refuses To Accept Grocery From Muslim Delivery Person

The e-retailing website Grofers is yet to comment on the issue (Representational)

A man living near Mumbai was arrested today after he allegedly refused to accept a package he ordered online from the Muslim delivery man. He has been accused of "deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious beliefs", and charged under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the police said.

Ghanshyam Chaturvedi, aged around 50 years and a resident of Mumbai suburb Mira Road, had ordered goods from online grocery service Grofers -- one of the few companies home delivering essentials during the coronavirus pandemic.  

The package arrived on the morning of April 21. But the man refused to accept it from the delivery person, Barkat Usman Patel. He said he had specifically asked that the package not be delivered by anyone from the Muslim community.

Mr Patel, 32, recorded the entire conversation on his phone and filed a complaint with the police. Later, the man was arrested.

Grofers is yet to comment on the issue.

In July last year, after a man in Madhya Pradesh refused to accept food from a non-Hindu delivery person, Zomato's response "Food has no religion. It is a religion," had gone viral on Twitter.

A similar incident was reported from Hyderabad in October as a customer who had ordered food from Swiggy had refused to accept it from the Muslim delivery person.

In Mira road, the coronavirus positive cases have crossed the 100 mark, two persons have died.

Mumbai so far had 4,025 coronavirus cases, nearly two-thirds of the state's tally to 6,427. Of the 778 new coronavirus cases detected today, a whopping 522 were from the country's financial capital.

So far, 840 COVID-19 patients have been discharged in the state after recovery, the officials said.