Uproar over ' NO MUSLIM ' staff text in Chennai's Bakery.

In Chennai, a bakery publicised that it does not employ Muslims in preparation of the food products. Legal experts have condemned this and criticized the nature of the message, classifying it as a Hate Crime by attempting to stigmatize a particular community. In T Nagar, Jain Bakeries and Confectioneries in a Whatsapp post mentioned that all the available eatables were "made by Jains" and "no Muslim staff" has been involved in the preparation of it. Rakesh Jain of Jain Bakeries and Confectioneries defended the post by calling it an old post and that it was in response to an older message on Muslims employment in eateries. When contacted, Rakesh said, "A Whatsapp message that originated from Sowcarpet urged people to not buy bakery products from shops in the area as they employed Muslims." 

The T nagar bakery posted the controversial message only when the consumers started questioning and messaging them about its staff, "As we were receiving calls continuously, we decided to clarify. Our intention was only to keep our customer base intact and not to oppose any religion, as Muslims are also our customers," said Rakesh.

Criticizing the words were senior advocate A Sirajudeen who categorized this as a conscious attempt to repudiate a particular section of the society. He stated, "The claim by the bakery that they did not employ Muslims to prepare food will incite people. The publisher of the advertisement is liable for prosecution under Section 153(provocation to cause riots), 153A, 505(incite a community to commit an offence against any other community) and 295A(insult a class of people) IPC."

Experts believe that this post infringes the community's right to equality and disturbs the religious peace and harmony.