The controversy surrounding Amit Shukla, the man who cancelled his order on food app Zomato because of a ‘non-Hindu’ driver, escalated on Wednesday after the police said that a notice was issued to him.
On Tuesday, a Twitter user named Amit Shukla, in a tweet, said that he cancelled an order after Zomato "allocated a non hindu rider for my food.”
“They said they can't change rider and can't refund on cancellation I said you can't force me to take a delivery I don't want don't refund just cancel (sic).” He also added in another tweet: “Zomato is forcing us to take deliveries from people we don't want else they won't refund and won't cooperate I am removing this app and will discuss the issue with my lawyers (sic),” he further added.
"We took suo motu (on their own) action against Shukla," Superintendent of Police (SP) Amit Singh told PTI.
According to reports, the police sought an undertaking from Amit Shukla that he would not spread religious hatred. He was reportedly warned by the police that he could be jailed if he does anything "divisive" in the next six months.
Police said they have also put Shukla under surveillance as he had violated constitutional provisions where there is no place for any kind of untouchability and acts against religious harmony.
In response to Amit Shukla’s tweet, Zomato said, “Food doesn't have a religion. It is a religion.” Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal also tweeted that, "We are proud of the idea of India and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren't sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values."
However, Amit Shukla told India Today after the matter blew up on social media that it was “his right to deny.” He added, “The constitution gives religious freedom to everyone. The month of Saavan (sic) is on, so I requested to change the rider. I will not order anything from Zomato now on. It was my right to deny, I was paying for it. I ordered food and they sent a non-Hindu rider. [When] I requested them to change the rider, they refused, so I asked them to cancel the order.”
With IANS inputs