India Court Suspends Order for Eateries to Display Owners' Names Amid Anti-Muslim Bias Concerns

IQNA – India’s top court ruled on Monday that restaurants cannot be forced to display the names of their owners, suspending police orders in two northern states that critics said could lead to discrimination against Muslims.

Police in the two states, both governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party, had issued oral orders in at least two districts requiring restaurants to display the names of their owners.

Police claimed that this measure would help avoid disputes for thousands of Hindu pilgrims who travel to sacred sites during a holy month, many of whom follow dietary restrictions, such as abstaining from meat.

However, a Supreme Court bench ruled on Monday that while restaurants could be expected to state the type of food they serve, including whether it is vegetarian, they “must not be forced” to display the names and identities of owners, Reuters reported. 

Some allies of Modi and leaders of opposition parties criticized the police orders, expressing concerns that they would deepen communal divides and lead to Hindus avoiding restaurants employing Muslims.

Political opponents accuse Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of targeting India’s roughly 200 million minority Muslims for electoral gains, which Modi and the BJP deny.

“Such orders are social crimes, which want to spoil the peaceful atmosphere of harmony,” opposition Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav said in a post on X, criticizing the police actions.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, India’s largest socioreligious Muslim organization, also expressed concern about the order. “This is a completely discriminatory and communal decision, anti-national elements will get an opportunity to benefit from this decision and there is fear of serious damage to communal harmony due to this new decree which violates the fundamental rights of citizens as enshrined in the Constitution,” it said in a statement.

“All the citizens of the country have been given complete freedom in the constitution to wear what they want, eat what they want. There will be no hindrance in their personal choice because this is a matter of the basic rights of the citizens.”

Source: Agencies