New Delhi: A Zomato delivery agent was allegedly spat at in the face and beaten up by a customer and others when he found that the agent was a Dalit. Lucknow Police arrested two men on Tuesday in this regard.
Besides refusing to collect his order from the “hands of a Dalit”, the customer in question hurled casteist slurs at the agent. The agent, when asked, said he belonged to the Pasi community, categorised as Dalit in Uttar Pradesh. The incident took place Saturday night, June 18, at Sector H of Aashiyana locality, when Vineet Kumar Rawat went to deliver a food order there, The Wire reported quoting police.
According to the complaint filed by Rawat, when he reached the house with the order, a man came out of the house and asked for his name. When he disclosed his name, the customer hurled a volley of casteist remarks at him, a police officer said. Rawat alleged that the man refused to cancel the order, spat chewed tobacco in his face, and then thrashed him, the officer was quoted as saying.
According to a report carried by The Wire earlier, Rawat had recounted his ordeal in his complaint to police and in a video. According to him, a man who opened the door inquired about his name and caste.
“The door was opened by Ajay’s brother, Abhay Singh, who hurled casteist slurs on learning that I belong to a Scheduled Caste community,” Rawat had recounted. “Abhay refused to take the order and said we would not take the meal from the hand of Pasi (Scheduled Caste).”
Rawat had asked Ajay to cancel the order if they did not want it. He had also resisted being spat and casteist slurs hurled at him. But soon some 10 to 12 unknown people came out of Ajay’s home and started beating Rawat.
In his statement, he had said they struck him on the head with a stick, but he suffered no injury as he was wearing a helmet. In a viral video, Rawat showed bruises on his body. After beating him brutally, they also allegedly confiscated Rawat’s bike. Ajay Singh, and Vivek Shukla, his servant, were arrested in connection with the matter, Aashiyana Police Station station house officer (SHO) Deepak Kumar Pandey said. Besides the two, police also booked 12 other unidentified men, he said, the report added.
