On February 7, on the occasion of Holi, a troubling and upsetting incident of hate crime was reported from Bajrang Nagar area of Nanded city of Maharashtra. A Muslim student named Amran Tamboli, a first year law student, was delivering food as a Zomato delivery boy when he was attacked by goons. A closed-circuit television camera video showing the attack has been doing rounds on social media. In the closed-circuit television footage, the suspects can be seen attacking the youth, slapping and kicking him. The video showed that the goons attacked Amran with sticks, threw bricks at him, and then put colour on his beard and tilak on his forehead. The food delivery boy can be seen losing balance and falling along with his bike. The footage showed the customer, whom he had delivered the food, coming to his rescue and saving his life.

The full video can be viewed here:

This is from #Nanded, #Maharashtra.

A #Muslim student named #AmranTamboli who was delivering food as a #Zomato delivery boy was attacked by goons.

They attacked him with sticks, threw bricks at him, then put colour on his beard and tilak on his forehead.#NandedPolice pic.twitter.com/5LBOPbq1Ah

— Hate Detector ? (@HateDetectors) March 12, 2023

According to the Times of India, after the video of Amran Tamboli being abused and assaulted went viral, the Nanded district police swung into action and registered a FIR against four suspects. According to Amran, “I lodged a complaint with the area police station, but they said they will contact me in a few days. Later, I went to the hospital to have my medical examination. The police responded on Saturday after the video was widely shared on social media and filed a FIR,” as reported by TOI. 

“The allegations are serious,” said Superintendent of Police, Shrikrishna Kokate, to TOI. He further said that the police will investigate the situation and take appropriate action. “We have identified four suspects caught on the closed-circuit television camera, and one of them has been arrested,” said Abinash Kumar, the additional superintendent of police, reiterating him. He also provided that their teams are on the lookout for the remaining three. In reference to Inspector Sahebrao Narwade, who is facing allegations for his reluctance to register a first information report on the basis of the food delivery boy’s complaint, the additional SP stated that the police will be investigating as to why the area police inspector took so long to respond, did not respond to calls or text messages.

Tamboli is the eldest son of a farmer couple. He started working as a food delivery driver to help pay for his legal education. “After receiving an order for food delivery, I picked up food from a local restaurant and arrived at Bajrang Nagar,” he explained to TOI. Narrating the incident, he said that ” I was delivering the food and checking other orders on my phone when three or four young men arrived and began abusing and assaulting me. They even threw stones and bricks at me. One of them even picked up a wooden log and threw it at me.” He had further claimed that one of the suspects returned with the color and forcibly applied it to his beard and put a tilak on his forehead.

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The post Zomato delivery boy assaulted with sticks and bricks on Holi appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Two people were arrested on June 21, 2022 for thrashing a 25-year-old Dalit food delivery executive allegedly after learning about his caste identity, reported the Indian Express. Police booked the persons for breach of peace while 13 other people have been named in an FIR by Lucknow police.

Delivery executive Vineet Kumar Rawat told the police he had gone to Sector H of the Ashiana colony on June 18 to deliver a food order. On reaching the house, the customer Ajay Singh answered the door and asked his name. According to Rawat’s complaint the customer used casteist slurs and refused to accept the food on learning he belonged to the Pasi community. Singh then spat tobacco on Rawat’s face when the latter asked the customer to cancel the order.

Following this, around 12 other people came out of the house and thrashed Rawat with sticks. The delivery boy finally escaped leaving his motorcycle and called the police control room. He added that he returned with a police team and got back his vehicle.

However, on Monday, Dainik Jagran reported that Rawat was apprehensive in lodging a formal complaint to the police. ACP Qasim Abidi reached out to Rawat who filed an FIR under sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act), rioting with a deadly weapon and voluntarily causing hurt.

In 2019, a Zomato employee had faced similar discrimination when a customer refused to accept food from a “non-Hindu”. At the time, Zomato had staunchly stood with the delivery person at least on social media. Yet, this year the company is shockingly mum on the matter.

The silence in this case is particularly concerning as the company had responded in connection with the incident on June 15, when a Delhi Zomato delivery agent was stabbed and left to bleed to death in Tilak Nagar area. The 29-year-old Sagar Singh was only helped by a fellow Muslim colleague. At that time, the company did extend support to the employee’s family.

Incidents like these further highlight the lack of security for private company employees that provide 24-hours service to their customers. In Maharashtra’s Thane region, there was an incident wherein an Ola cab driver murdered by the very people who hailed his services on the app.

Maharashtra App-Based Transport Workers Union President Prashant Sawardekar had pointed out at the time how these companies leave their employees bereft of any form of security while on-duty. As the nature and wages from the work mostly attract youths from marginalised communities, there is a greater need for Zomato, Swiggy, Ola and Uber companies to pay attention to the employee policies.

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The post Lucknow: Two arrested for thrashing Dalit Zomato delivery boy appeared first on SabrangIndia.