TCN News
New Delhi: In a shocking incident of alleged caste discrimination and that too in a metropolitan city like Mumbai, a 23-year-old Dalit boy was told by his employer they don’t employ Jai Bhim walas.
“Tu Jai Bhim wala hai kya?” the man was asked. When he reverted in affirmation, he received another WhatsApp message from his employer Neha Dutt who reportedly said, “Main Jai Bhim walon ko job pe nahin rakhti (we don’t employ Dalits).”
The purported incident happened to the young man (who did not wish to be identified) at Goregaon in Mumbai on April 19 (Ambedkar Jayanti). A mass communication graduate, he was working as a marketing executive with Elite Sapphire Events (an event management company).
In his police complaint, the man, according to a Hindustan Times report, has alleged, “I could not continue to work with the firm after that message. I have faced such caste discrimination for the first time in my career and life. It is unfortunate and sad that such blatant discrimination still happens and that too in the metropolitan city (Mumbai).”
A first information report (FIR) has been registered based on his complaint under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 against Dutt — the owner of the firm.
Interestingly, it was Dutt who had interviewed the man on April 8, and she was so impressed that she asked him to join the next day on a monthly salary of Rs 15,000.
He informed his parents about the exchange of the messages. The family then approached Advocate Deepak Sonavne who helped it register a complaint.
Dutt has admitted having sent him the messages but said it was not intended to fire him from the job. “I did not ask him not to come to work. When he did not turn up, I messaged him, asking him where he was,” she said.
Meanwhile, the police are investigating the matter and have not taken anyone into custody.