22 May,2015 07:09 AM IST | | Sagar Rajput
Sparking outrage on social media where he wrote about the incident, the 22-year-old revealed how his job application was denied by a diamond export company stating it only hired non-Muslims
Armed with an MBA degree, this 22-year-old had hoped to begin his career with a marketing job in a city-based diamond export company, but instead received a rude shock when his job application was turned down merely because he is a Muslim.
Zeeshan Ali Ahmad Khan got a rude shock when the company replied to his job application saying they hired only non-Muslims. Yesterday, he filed an FIR against the company for its alleged discrimination. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
After social media erupted in protest against this discrimination, the youth filed an FIR against the company for the alleged racial slur. On May 19, Zeeshan Ali Ahmad Khan had applied for a job in the marketing department at Hare Krishna Export Private Limited.
Within 20 minutes, he got a reply from the company saying, "We regret to inform you that we hire only non-Muslim candidates." Speaking to mid-day, Zeeshan said, "I thought India was a liberal country, but even international companies here are not liberal."
Zeeshan's sister (who did not wish to be named) said, "I was seated right next to my brother when he sent his resume to the organisation. We were shocked that the company denied his application outright, just because he is Muslim. If they wanted to reject him, they could have come up with several other excuses."
When Zeeshan made the incident public on Facebook, several people responded with outrage. Even the company was forced to take note of the backlash, after which it sent yet another email to Zeeshan, blaming the episode on a "typing mistake".
"We were so upset that we decided to post about it on Facebook, as we wanted to let everyone know about the incident. After the word spread, Zeeshan got a reply the next day explaining that the incident was a result of a typing error made by one of their trainees," his sister added.
Taking courage from the public support for him, however, Zeeshan decided to teach a lesson to the company and filed an FIR at the VB Nagar police station yesterday. Senior Police Inspector Subhash Raut from VB Nagar police station said, "We have registered the case under section 153 B and C (racial slur) under the Indian Penal Code.
However, appropriate action will be taken after investigations reveal the identity of the sender. The case has now been transferred to the BKC police station as the company comes under their jurisdiction."
