On 8th October another case of spitting on food items was reported. The matter pertains to the popular tourist destination of Mussoorie in Dehradun, Uttarakhand where Naushad Ali first spat in a teapot and then he and Hasan Ali threatened as well as abused a man who confronted them.
Naushad Ali and Hasan Ali run a food stall in Dehradun. The issue came to light when a tourist caught them and recorded a video of them spitting in the tea. A complaint was then registered against them by a man named Himanshu Bishnoi of the Nehrugram Police Station area, in the Raipur district. The culprits are currently absconding.
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The complaint stated that the duo not only put people’s health at risk but also tried to create religious tension and spoil the peaceful atmosphere in the area. On 29th September the complainant went to Mussorie on a holiday and reached Mussoorie Library Chowk (Gandhi Chowk) at around 6.30 in the morning. The accused were selling tea, Maggi, butter and other things on a stall there. He also had tea there and started capturing the stunning surroundings with his camera. However, he spotted that the boy who was preparing the tea was spitting in the vessel and accidentally filmed it.
He objected to their nasty behaviour and disregard for the health of common people but they did not apologise and instead abused him. The duo told him to leave and even threatened to murder him and dump his body where no one would discover it. The complainant added that the nearby locals told him that the perpetrator’s name was Naushad Ali, even though Hussain Ali appeared when he paid for tea via Phone Pay. He is the son of a man named Sher Ali, a resident of Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district while the other was called Hasan Ali, son of Sher Ali from Kitabghar in Mussoorie.
Himanshu conveyed that he returned to his destination at the time and couldn’t personally come to the police station in Mussoorie to file the complaint earlier due to his busy schedule. He mentioned that a similar complaint had been emailed by him to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) office. He charged that the offenders tried to provoke religious sentiments in addition to messing with the well-being of people and highlighted that the act could have resulted in a communal riot in the region. He demanded strict action against the offenders for stirring communal sentiments and playing with the public’s health.
A First Information Report was swiftly launched by the authorities against Naushad Ali and Hasan Ali under sections 196(1)(b) (enmity and hatred between different groups), 274 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), 299 (protection of religious sentiments in India), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 352 (intentional insults that are intended to provoke a breach of the peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The police stated that they were looking into the case and searching for the accused. They assured that both would be arrested soon.
Notably, numerous instances similar to this have been documented from all around India, where Muslims have been discovered spitting on food items or drinks.
