Man Who Cancelled Zomato Order Over Delivery Boy's Religion, Booked For Hurting Religious Sentiments

Madhya Pradesh Police have booked Amit Shukla who kicked up an online storm after he tweeted about cancelling a food delivery order because the delivery boy was a non-Hindu.

According to Jabalpur Police, Shukla has been booked under IPC sections 107 and 116 of CrPC for hurting religious sentiments.

Superintendent of Police Jabalpur, Amit Singh said that there was no complaint against Shukla and that they took suo moto action as a preventive measure to preempt breach of peace.

AFP/ REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

¡°Notice is being sent to confirm if he had floated contents intended at sparking communal hatred. If he had done so, we will ask him to give a reason. One our investigations are complete we would initiate necessary action,¡± Singh told The Times of India.

Shukla who originally went by the twitter handle @Namo_SARKAR kicked up a massive storm online after he tweeted about cancelling an order he had placed on Zomato as the food delivery platform allocated a non-Hindu rider for him and refused to change the delivery boy despite his request.

Zomato responded to Shukla's tweet saying "Food doesn't have a religion. It is a religion".

Food doesn¡¯t have a religion. It is a religion. https://t.co/H8P5FlAw6y

¡ª Zomato India (@ZomatoIN) July 31, 2019

Deepinder Goyal, the founder of the food delivery platform added "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."

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. ?? https://t.co/cgSIW2ow9B

¡ª Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) July 31, 2019

Many including Zomato's business rival Ubereats applauded the stand taken by the food delivery app.

.@ZomatoIN, we stand by you. https://t.co/vzjF8RhYzi

¡ª Uber Eats India (@UberEats_IND) July 31, 2019

Shukla meanwhile has changed his twitter handle and has made his tweets private.

He later clarified that his tweet was about Zomato not refunding him and not about religion.

¡°It was a normal tweet ¡ª that the company is not ready to refund my payment. It was mainly an issue related to Zomato¡¯s customer service. There was no religious angle in that. But a section of people started giving it a different colour on Twitter and started taking the matter in a different direction. It is Sawan and we have religious faith. Because of that, we had requested them to change the driver if not cancel and repay," he said.